GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development

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The GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (Azerbaijani: GUAM; Ukrainian: ГУАМ; Georgian: სუამი) is a regional organization of four CIS states: Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova. The group is sometimes seen as a way of countering the influence of Russia in the area and a strategy backed by the United States. However, GUAM leaders repeatedly and officially dismiss such claims and declare their strong willingness to develop close friendly relations with Russia. Moreover, Azerbaijan, the group's main energy power, has managed to avoid any controversies with Russia in recent years.

Though at one point the GUAM was generally considered to have stagnated, recent developments have caused speculation on the possible revival of the organization.

In 1999, the organisation was renamed GUUAM due to the membership of Uzbekistan, which however withdrew from the organisation in May 5, 2005, causing the restoration of the original name.

In May 22 to May 23, 2006, Ukraine and Azerbaijan announced plans to further increase the GUAM member relations by renaming the organization GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development and establishing its headquarters in the Ukrainian capital.[1] Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev will be elected as the first secretary general of the organization. The other members said this was a remarkable step and development. The summit participants are also expected to adopt GUAM by-laws, a declaration and a communiqué.

On May 30, 2006 the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced plans to establish GUAM peacekeeping forces.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

Image:GUAM Summit 2006.jpg
Ukrainian postage stamp commemorating the GUAM Summit held in Kyiv, May 22 to May 23 2006.

Cooperation between Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova started with the GUAM consultative forum, established on October 10, 1997, in Strasbourg and named after the initial letters of each of those countries. In April 1999, Uzbekistan also joined, changing the name of the grouping to GUUAM.

A summit in Yalta on June 6 to June 7, 2001, was accompanied by the signing of GUUAM's charter, which formalized the organization.

In 2002, Uzbekistan however announced that it planned to withdraw from the organization, and following this announcement started to ignore GUUAM summits and meetings.

In the following years the grouping was generally considered to have stagnated: Among other things, the 2004 meeting in Yalta was only attended by two of the five leaders while the GUUAM official website still showed the old Georgian flag and listed Uzbekistan as a member.

However the recent series of "color revolutions" in Georgia and Ukraine, as well as a perceived pro-Western and anti-Russian shift in the political agenda of the Moldovan Communist governing party, followed by increased cooperation and coordination between these three countries, has led many to speculate on the possible revival of GUUAM.[3]

The most recent summit of GUUAM took place in Chişinău, Moldova, on April 22, 2005. The president of Uzbekistan, Islom Karimov failed to attend, as did the president of Poland, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who had been invited as an observer. The president of Romania, Traian Băsescu, and of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus, both participated as observers, as did the US Department of State special representative for Eurasian conflicts, Steven Mann, and the OSCE Secretary General Ján Kubiš. The Russian ambassador in Chişinău criticized the fact that Russia was not invited to attend.[4] Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, said after the summit: "Our organization is emerging as a powerful force, participating in resolving problems in the Caspian-Black Sea region" while the president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, said that a new page had been written in the history of the organization.[5]

On May 24, 2005, shortly after the Andijan massacre, Uzbekistan finally gave an official notice of withdrawal from the organization to the Moldovan presidency, thus changing the group's name back to GUAM.

On April 21, the GUAM countries formed a common front on several issues in the CIS Foreign Ministers Council that was held at that time in Moscow. Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova lodged complaints against restriction imposed by Russia against some of their national products. At the same time, the four GUAM countries made a proposal to discuss the "frozen conflicts" of Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia (which remain under de facto Russian military control) and Nagorno-Karabakh. Lastly the other three GUAM nations supported Ukraine's proposal to condemn the Holodomor, the 1930s famine in Ukraine, as a genocide.[6]

On June 19, 2007, presidents of Lithuania, Poland and Romania joined the leaders of GUAM member states at the GUAM summit in Baku[7]. Participating at the summit were also the Vice-President of Bulgaria, Vice-Speaker of Estonian parliament, Minister of Economy of Latvia, and the high-level representatives of the United States, Japan, OSCE, BSEC, UNESCO, and heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Azerbaijan[8].

[edit] Members

Image:EUandGUAMandEurasec.png
     GUAM member state      EU member state      EEA member or EU candidate state      EurAsEC member state

[edit] Organizational structure

GUAM is organized as follows:

[edit] Issues

One of the issues associated with GUAM is competition between two proposed transportation corridors to better link Europe with Asia. Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran have already been through rounds of negotiation on their plan, the North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC); neighbouring countries (formerly, but no longer with the understandable exception of Armenia) have expressed enthusiasm as well. This corridor would travel along the border between Russia and the Baltic states of the European Union, then continue south through Ukraine, The USA would prefer the critical transportation corridor bypass both Russia and Iran. The plan proposed to GUAM by the United States crosses both the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said at the summit that the new charter set objectives for cooperation, such as promoting democratic values, ensuring stable development, enhancing international and regional security and stepping up European integration.[9]

Critics point out that only Georgia and Ukraine have shown a deep commitment to democratic values. Moldova's 2000 elections were won by Communist Party of Moldova who have, according to same critics, realigned their foreign policy towards Europe shortly before the parliamentary election held in March of 2005.

[edit] Comparison

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Most active regional blocs
as of 2004
Regional bloc1 Area Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member
states1
km² sq mi in millions per capita
Agadir 1,703,910 657,883 126,066,286 513,674 4,075 4
AU 29,797,500 11,504,879 897,548,804 1,515,000 1,896 53
ASEAN 4,400,000 1,699,000 553,900,000 2,172,000 4,044 10
CACM 422,614 163,172 37,816,598 159,536 4,219 5
CARICOM 462,344 178,512 14,565,083 64,219 4,409 (14+1)3
CCASG / GCC 2,285,844 882,569 35,869,438 536,223 14,949 6
CEFTA 298,148 115,116 28,929,682 222,041 7,675 (7+1)3
EU 4,325,675 1,670,152 496,198,605 12,025,415 24,235 27
EurAsEC 20,789,100 8,026,720 208,067,618 1,689,137 8,118 6
EFTA 529,600 204,480 12,233,467 471,547 38,546 4
GUAM 810,506 312,938 63,764,600 456,173 7,154 4
NAFTA 21,588,638 8,335,420 430,495,039 15,279,000 35,491 3
PARTA 528,151 203,920 7,810,905 23,074 2,954 (14+2)3
SAARC 5,136,740 1,983,306 1,467,255,669 4,074,031 2,777 8
Unasur / Unasul 17,339,153 6,694,684 370,158,470 2,868,430 7,749 12
UN and countries
for reference2 		Area Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Units4
km² sq mi in millions per capita
UN 133,178,011 51,420,318 6,411,682,270 55,167,630 8,604 192
Brazil 8,514,877 3,287,612 188,078,261 1,594,482 9,108 27
Canada 9,984,670 3,855,103 32,507,874 1,165,000 35,200 13
India 3,287,590 1,269,346 1,102,600,000 4,042,000 3,700 35
Japan 377,873 145,898 128,085,000 4,220,000 33,100 47
PR China5 9,596,960 3,705,407 1,306,847,624 10,000,000 7,600 33
Russia 17,075,200 6,592,772 143,782,338 1,723,000 12,100 89
USA 9,631,418 3,718,711 300,000,000 12,980,000 43,500 50
Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database.
Legend
     smallest value among the blocs compared     largest value among the blocs compared

Footnotes
1 Including data only for full and most active members.
2 Including the largest five countries by area, population and GDP (PPP), but not #4 in population or #5 in GDP (PPP).
3 Including non-sovereign autonomous areas of other states.
4 Members or administrative divisions.
5 Data for the People's Republic of China does not include Hong Kong, Macau, or regions administered
   by the Republic of China (Taiwan).

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[edit] See also



[edit] References

  1. ^ Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova Discussed the Upcoming Guam Summit. InfoMarket. Moldova Azi (May 19 2006). Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
  2. ^ Ukraine suggests setting up GUAM peacekeeping unit. Today.az (May 31 2006). Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
  3. ^ Axis of Evil Shaping Against Moscow. Kommersant (March 3 2005). Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
  4. ^ Itar-Tass article. Itar-Tass. Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
  5. ^ GUAM Leaders Hail Chisinau Summit. Civil Georgia (April 22 2005). Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
  6. ^ CIS Split at Ministerial Conference. Eurasia Daily Monitor (April 25 2006). Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
  7. ^ Lithuanian President's Office: President to Attend GUAM Summit in Baku
  8. ^ Embassy of Azerbaijan in the U.S.: Baku hosts GUAM Second Summit
  9. ^ Russian Deputy FM: "GUAM not anti-Russian group". Today.az (May 23 2006). Retrieved on 2007-04-18.

[edit] External links


v • d • e
GUAM countries

Current members
Image:Flag of Azerbaijan.svg Azerbaijan
Image:Flag of Georgia.svg Georgia


Image:Flag of Moldova.svg Moldova
Image:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine

Former members
Image:Flag of Uzbekistan.svg Uzbekistan

Observers
Image:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey

ca:GUAM

de:GUAM et:GUAM es:GUAM eo:GUUAM fr:GUAM (Alliance) ka:სუამი nl:GUAM ja:GUAM no:GUAM pl:GUAM pt:GUAM Organização para a Democracia e o Desenvolvimento Económico ro:GUAM ru:ГУАМ uk:ГУАМ zh:古阿姆集团

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