GUAM Summit in Batumi

President Saakashvili said on July 1 Georgia was in “a difficult situation” as an attempt to seize its territories was underway.

Speaking after the GUAM summit in Batumi, Saakashvili said: “There is an attempt to impose on Georgia a scenario similar to the one that was imposed on Europe and implemented in respect of Czechoslovakia through the Munich agreement [in 1938], as well as in respect of Poland and the Baltic states through the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact [in 1939].”

“I hope that a new “Munich” and “Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact” – dividing Europe into spheres of influence, partitioning territories and revising borders, will not be implemented in today’s world.”

Saakashvili was speaking at a joint briefing with Azerbaijani, Ukrainian, Polish and Lithuanian leaders, who participated in the GUAM summit in the Adjaran Autonomous Republic.

GUAM is an organization uniting Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova.

The Moldovan president, Vladimir Voronin, however, was not present. In March Voronin criticized GUAM and said that the group had failed to bring any tangible results. Moldova instead sent its interior minister to the summit.

The Lithuanian and Polish presidents, Valdas Adamkus and Lech Kaczyński, respectively, attended the summit as invited guests. The Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, was also in Batumi.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said after the summit that GUAM had turned into “a very effective organization.”

In his address, the Azerbaijani president underlined that apart from economic cooperation, the increased political coordination between GUAM members had already brought tangible results in various international organizations. In this regard, Aliyev noted the a UN General Assembly resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of “all Armenian forces from all occupied territories.” Aliyev thanked GUAM member states for supporting the resolution and added that Azerbaijan had supported a Georgian-sponsored UN General Assembly resolution on Abkhazia.

Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko focused on economic cooperation and implementation of energy and economic projects in the frames of GUAM. He also said that the summit demonstrated the organization had an action plan on how to develop further.

The Polish president said after the summit that his country supported granting NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Georgia and Ukraine in December 2008.

The Lithuanian president said that GUAM was not only gaining strength, but was also gaining more and “more friends.”

President Adamkus encouraged a continuation of close political cooperation with a focus on domestic reforms and the promotion of democracy and European values, with special attention to infrastructural projects, especially those in the fields of transport and energy.

In a joint declaration the GUAM leaders have pledged “to stand jointly against common risks and threats” and reiterated “adherence to the peaceful settlement of the conflicts in the GUAM region on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The Batumi summit declaration also called for “development and full-scale utilization of the Member States’ transit potential, with the involvement of international investment and participation of partner countries.”

During the summit GUAM-U.S.; GUAM-Japan; GUAM-Poland and GUAM-Czech Republic meetings were also held.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)