On September 25, 2009 in New York, the 16th meeting of the GUAM Council of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs – the United States of America was held within the framework of the general debates on the 64th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The sides assessed their cooperation following the GUAM – United States Ministerial meeting in Helsinki on December 4, 2008 and underlined the development of the Framework GUAM-USA Program.
They exchanged views on the situation in the region within the agenda item of the 64th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations “Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development.”
Both sides marked the fulfillment in June 2009 of the first stage of the Framework GUAM-USA Program project on modernizing national segments of the GUAM Interstate Information Management System (ISIMS) and the progress in the confirmation by the GUAM Member States of the Protocol on the protection of information within the channels of the GUAM ISIMS, signed in Helsinki on December 4, 2008. In this regard, GUAM expressed appreciation to the Government of the United States of America for pledging finance resources for equipment for the GUAM Virtual Law Enforcement Center (VLEC) to protect data critical for conducting GUAM joint law-enforcement operations and, thus, to increase GUAM institutional capabilities and harmonize its standards with those of the Euro-Atlantic area.
GUAM presented also its new proposals on the Framework GUAM-USA Program’s projects in the areas of combating money laundering and terrorism and improving cross-border checking vehicles along the GUAM Transport Corridor.
