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GUAM Foreign Ministers Council Meets

The 39th meeting of the GUAM Foreign Ministers Council was held in New York on September 20, on the sidelines of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly.

Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and Azerbaijan, Ilia Darchiashvili, Dmytro Kuleba, Nicu Popescu and Jeyhun Bayramov, respectively, as well as Secretary General of GUAM, Altai Efendiyev, participated in the meeting.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry reported that the meeting focused on the geopolitical environment and security challenges triggered by Russia’s full-scale military aggression against Ukraine. Amid the ongoing war and common threats, the sides stressed the need of strengthening regional cooperation and involving international partners.

The sides emphasized the importance of strengthening transport, connectivity and energy cooperation, which “became a priority in light of current developments in Ukraine,” according to the Georgian Foreign Ministry.

The GUAM participating states signed the protocol on the rules for determining the country of origin of goods to the Agreement on Establishment of Free Trade Area.

“At the ministerial meeting, the sides emphasized the importance of coordinated interaction between the GUAM member states within the framework of international organizations. Special mention was made of the existing formats of cooperation with partner countries,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry reported.

Speaking at the ministerial meeting, FM Darchiashvili focused on the political, diplomatic and humanitarian support provided by Georgia to Ukraine in both bilateral and multilateral formats. He also briefed the participants on the current situation and security environment in Georgia’s occupied regions.


GUAM was created in 1997, aiming at creation of closer links between the participating states. It was also considered as a vehicle to facilitate common positions on territorial conflicts and the withdrawal of the left-over Soviet/Russian troops from the member countries. By Russia GUAM was commonly seen as a U.S.-sponsored counter-weight to the Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States. After a lull following 2008, the organization was re-energized in 2014 as a consultative venue for negotiating common positions on European integration between Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova. The previous meeting took place in December 2021, on the margins of the OSCE Ministerial in Stockholm.

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

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