Ukraine to Chair GUAM in 2023
The 40th Meeting of the GUAM Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs (CMFA) was held on December 20 via videoconference under the Chairmanship of the Republic of Moldova.
Foreign Ministers of Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Ilia Darchiashvili, Dmytro Kuleba, Nicu Popescu, respectively, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elnur Mammadov, as well as the Secretary General of GUAM, Altai Efendiyev, participated in the meeting, according to the Georgian MFA.
The GUAM reported that “the Council [CMFA] adopted the Decision on transferring the Chairmanship in the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM to Ukraine and expressed its appreciation to the Moldovan Chairmanship for activities during its tenure. The Council also adopted the Decision on the approval of coordinating countries for the GUAM sectoral working groups during 2023-2024.”
Ukrainian FM Kuleba said “despite Russia’s full-scale aggression, Ukraine is committed to productive and decisive leadership during the Ukrainian chairmanship of GUAM in 2023 [unofficial translation from Ukrainian language].”
Dmytro Kuleba named five priorities of the Ukrainian Chairmanship. Among them are the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the GUAM member states; creation of new economic opportunities and development of trade between the markets of Europe and Asia; progress towards the full functioning of the free trade area; cooperation with the European Commission on the GUAM Transport Corridor; simplification of customs procedures and introduction of an integrated approach to documents for transportation within the GUAM Transport Corridor.
“We also count on the support of the member states in depriving the Russian language of the status of the official and working language of GUAM,” he added.
FM Kuleba also proposed strengthening cooperation in the security field within GUAM. “All our countries are existentially interested in Ukraine’s victory. The other scenarios will pose a threat. Russia’s appetites are not limited to Ukraine, and they would go further if they could. But neither is anyone interested in a new frozen conflict. Our countries know all too well what that means. It is time to put an end to Russian imperialism. We must eliminate this threat not only for Ukraine, but for the entire region and the world. Ukraine is able to do this with the steadfast support of our partners unofficial translation from Ukrainian language],” he concluded.
On its part, the Georgian MFA reported that “against the background of the existing challenges,” giving priority to the fields of transportation, connectivity and energy, and the importance of the development of the GUAM Transport Corridor were especially emphasized.
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 was held in New York in September 2022, on the sidelines of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly.
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- 21/09/2022 – GUAM Foreign Ministers Council Meets
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
