Security Council Chief: GUUAM to Reform, Promote Democracy
Secretary of Georgia’s Security Council Gela Bezhuashvili told the journalists President Mikheil Saakashvili’s during his visit to Moldova on March 2 would touch upon the possibility of “reorganizing” an informal GUUAM grouping of states.
Bezhuashvili said, GUUAMs role after velvet revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia should change, and it should play a role in “promoting democracy in post-Soviet space.”
The issue of revitalizing GUUAM was raised by Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko. Saakashvili is scheduled to visit Ukraine in mid-March.
An informal grouping of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova was established in 1997 on the margins of cooperation of the states interested in implementation of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty – i.e. a pullout of the Russian troops from Moldova and Georgia. The grouping later concentrated on energy transportation projects, and Uzbekistan joined in 1999.
The grouping has been practically defunct, after election of the current president of Moldova on pro-Russian platform and as both Uzbekistan and Leonid Kuchma’s Ukraine lost interest in promoting the organization.
