Regional Trade Agreements in the ECE

UKRAINIAN CABINET ENDORSES GUAM AGREEMENT

Ukrainian News Agency reported that the cabinet of ministers has endorsed an agreement among governments of member states of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) on international multimodal cargo shipment by two or more kinds of transport. The agreement was signed in Baku on June 19, 2007.
The endorsement of the agreement by the Cabinet of Ministers is a national procedure required to enact it.
As per report the agreement regulates relations between individuals and legal entities with shipment of cargo in interaction between railroads, river transport, sea transport, motor transport, and ferries. The agreement also gives rights, obligations and responsibilities of each participant in shipment.
The governments of GUAM have committed to facilitate the development and competitive capacities of multimodal shipment. The governments also agreed to transfer customs clearance of goods from border checkpoints to terminals of shipment.

GUAM COUTRIES EAGER TO EXPAND TRANSPORT ROUTES

The international union of automobile transport has offered the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM to use the route running from the West China to Europe and reverse, Valery Chechelashvili, the Secretary General of GUAM, stated in Baku on 30 May during the summit of GUAM.
GUAM is currently realizing cargo deliveries in the area of 4 member-countries of the organization – Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, whilst we are interested in the establishment of communications routes in the western and eastern directions as well, Chechelashvili said.

GUAM “DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY” CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN BAKU

The international conference titled “Development strategy of GUAM” will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan on May 29-30, 2008. During the conference, the following issues will be discussed: political, economic, transport, energy and humanitarian advancement of the Member States of the organization, the press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Khazar Ibragime, declared on May 15, 2008. He also noted that the governmental, expert, business representatives of the different countries will participate and will discuss transport, energy and economic projects to create a single infrastructure of the Member States of GUAM.

NEXT SUMMIT OF GUAM WILL TAKE PLACE IN TBILISI ON JULY 2008

During the second summit of the heads of Member States of GUAM, which took place in Baku on 18-19 June 2007, the participants decided to organize the next summit of the organization in Tbilisi, Georgia, in June 2008.

In 2008, the activity of the organization will focus on:

·        valuable functioning of the free trade zones in the frameworks of GUAM

·        strengthening the fight against transnational crime

·        promotion cultural and humanitarian cooperation

·        realization of regional energetic and transport projects

One of the expected goals was the strengthening of working relations with the partners, mainly USA, Poland, Japan and European Union.   

GUAM WITHDRAWS FROZEN-CONFLICTS PROPOSAL

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili told journalists in Tbilisi on December 7 that the GUAM member states (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) have asked the UN General Assembly to postpone discussion, originally scheduled for December 7, of GUAM's draft resolution on so-called frozen conflicts on its members' territory, Caucasus Press reported. The website www.izvestia.ru attributed that request on December 7 to disagreements among the four GUAM members over the proposed text of the draft resolution. On November 21, Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, unveiled an appeal to UN member states adopted on October 4 by the unrecognized republics of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transdniester, to reject the GUAM initiative (see "RFE/RL Newsline," November 22, 2006). That appeal argued that the decision to raise the issue with the UN General Assembly, rather than the UN Security Council, reflects a desire to enlist support for their bid to use force "to quash the legitimate aspiration of our peoples to live in...peace and equality." On Decembe  1, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian warned that such a UN General Assembly debate would create obstacles to the ongoing search for a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Noyan Tapan reported. LF

MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT TO DEBATE LEAVING CIS

President Vladimir Voronin said on May 23 that Moldova's parliament will debate a proposal to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Interfax reported the same day. "This initiative has been put forward by the opposition and will be debated in parliament. The outcome of these debates is another issue," Voronin, who is attending a summit of the GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) regional grouping in Kyiv, told reporters. Voronin added that Chisinau is seeking to increase GUAM's importance. "We want to transform this body into an international organization and to continue to do everything we have been doing, but on a different basis," he said.

GUAM LEADERS IN KYIV DECLARE TO CREATE 'ORGANIZATION FOR DEMOCRACY

The presidents of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova (GUAM) -- Mikheil Saakashvili, Viktor Yushchenko, Ilham Aliyev, and Vladimir Voronin, respectively -- signed a declaration in Kyiv on May 23 to set up the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development -- GUAM, UNIAN reported. President Yushchenko said the objectives of the new organization are to promote democratic  values, safeguard sustained economic development, strengthen international and regional security, and deepen European integration.

GUAM MEETING OPENS IN KYIV

A two-day summit meeting of the presidents of GUAM member states (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) opened in Kyiv on May 22, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The main topics on the agenda are the diversification of energy supplies and containment of regional "frozen conflicts." The adopted agenda foresees separate meetings of the member states' foreign, energy, and interior ministers, and of the heads of their respective security services. A proposed name change for the organization, Organization for Democracy and Economic Development -- GUAM, is expected to be adopted at the meeting. The presidents of Lithuania, Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania were invited to attend the summit as guests.

Uzbekistan threatens to withdraw from GUUAM

RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 9, No. 19, Part I, 31 January 2005

...AND SUGGESTS THAT UKRAINE EVENTS COULD LEAD UZBEKISTAN TO LEAVE GUUAM. Speaking at a news conference after his address to parliament on 28 January, President Karimov said that events in Georgia and Ukraine could lead Uzbekistan to pull out of GUUAM (Georgia, Ukraine,Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova), Uzbek Television First Channel reported. "The tendencies that are taking place now in Ukraine and Georgia -- and also in Moldova, which is a member of GUUAM -- make us reconsider our relations again and again: whether or not we should continue participating in GUUAM in the future," Karimov said. "We have not yet adopted any decision on this account. However, I think we will solve this issue in the near future." Karimov also lambasted the Commonwealth of Independent States for its ineffectiveness and stressed that U.S. troops will leave Uzbekistan once the U.S. contingent leaves Afghanistan. Uzbekistan has previously suspended and then reaffirmed its membership in GUUAM (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 May 2003 and 26 June 2004). DK

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"The Limits of Diversity in the Post Soviet Space: CIS & GUUAM"

The following is a link to a study by Dr. P.C. Latawski on "The Limits of Diversity in a Post-Soviet Space"

read: "The limits of Diversity in the Post Soviet Space: CIS and GUUAM"