We, the Presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine together with the leaders of the partner nations of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the United States gathered today to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the GUAM establishment. On 10 October 1997 the Heads of our States shaped the process of our cooperation and integration. This far-sighted step was determined by similarity of challenges and threats that our countries were faced with, and based upon commonality of approaches in seeking efficient solutions to the existing problems.
We are proud to state that being a natural and voluntary association of like-minded states GUAM has successfully passed through various tests and proved its strong viability and practical relevance. The effectiveness of GUAM is proved by the growing trade turnover between its Member–States. Throughout 10 years our Group has transformed into a full-fledged international organization with a distinct identity devoted to democracy and economic development. Our Organization established strong cooperative and mutually beneficial ties with the partner states and other international bodies in many fields effectively using the “GUAM +” format. We remain open for active multi-faceted cooperation based on GUAM principles and values with any European or Asian state or organization.
Projecting the GUAM prospective for the future we reiterate our strong determination to contribute actively to the international security, stability and peace in the most effective and appropriate manner. As a natural transportation route connecting Europe and Asia GUAM will continue to play an increasingly important role in economic development and regional integration, thus bringing continents together. Uniting representatives of different cultural, ethnic and religious groups GUAM is promoting the vital process of dialogue between civilizations bringing mutual respect through knowledge and understanding.
We note with a great concern that the process of development and integration of our States is still burdened by many outstanding problems, among which are the unresolved conflicts in the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Republic of Moldova. In this connection we reaffirm our unswerving commitment to finding peaceful solutions to these conflicts on the basis of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of States. It is our firm belief that aggressive nationalism, armed separatism and disintegration have no future in our region, since they fully contradict the principles of democracy, rule of law and human rights, which constitute the very basis of GUAM.
On this solemn occasion we call upon the international community to support the ongoing efforts by the GUAM States, which will play a constructive role in improving situation in the GUAM region, eliminating remaining barriers to full-scale development of our states and promoting the goals of the GUAM cooperation.
Vilnius, October 11, 2007
