On 23 September 2004, the Seventh meeting of the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs (CMFA) of the GUUAM States was held in New-York (USA) within the framework of the 59th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. Representatives of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine took part in the meeting. The meeting was also attended by the delegation of the United States of America.
The Council considered the implementation process of the decisions taken at its Sixth Meeting held on 28 June 2004 in Istanbul and noted with satisfaction the progress achieved in realization of the GUUAM Programme of Actions for 2004.
The Council noted the importance of the parliamentary dimension within the GUUAM framework and welcomed the establishment of the GUUAM Parliamentary Assembly at its founding meeting on 23 September 2004 in Kyiv.
The Ministers welcomed an initiative of Ukraine to host an Economic Forum and a Meeting of the GUUAM Business Council and called upon the respective authorities of the GUUAM States to actively participate in preparation of these events.
The Council emphasized the necessity of launching the Trade and Transport Facilitation (TTF) Project and Project on GUUAM Virtual Center and Interstate Information Management System (VC/IMS) and in this regard urged the participating States to speed up the process of setting up National bodies responsible for their implementation.
The Ministers underlined the importance of close cooperation with the USA in elaboration of the mentioned projects, appreciated the active support of the Government of the USA rendered to the GUUAM initiatives and expressed its willingness to proceed with the dialogue within the format of the GUUAM-EU, GUUAM-USA and GUUAM-EU-USA.
The Council welcomed the Decree of the Parliament of Georgia of 16 September 2004 about completion of necessary internal procedures required for the entry into force of the Temporary Regulation on Information Office in Kyiv.
The Ministers agreed that the international staff members to the GUUAM Information Office in Kyiv would be nominated by the GUUAM countries by the end of October 2004 and be appointed at an earliest meeting of the Committee of National Coordinators of the GUUAM States.
The participants exchanged views on the issue of cooperation of the GUUAM with other countries, international organizations and agreed that its further development with the third parties might be established in the framework of partnership relations and, in this regard, consultations will be initiated with interested states and institutions.
The Council expressed its interest in cooperation with the European Union and had a discussion on the new directions of cooperation in regard to the “New Neighborhood Initiative” and on implementation of the GUUAM Transport Corridor in the context of existing agreements within the GUUAM and TRACECA frameworks and the INOGATE project. In this connection, the Participants welcomed the initiative of Georgia to organize a meeting of GUUAM working group on transport on 26-27 October, 2004 in Tbilisi.
The Council instructed the Committee of National Coordinators to submit for its consideration a Draft Programme work for 2005.
The Council welcomed willingness of the Republic of Moldova to assume the Chairmanship of the GUUAM.
The Council took a decision to organize the 8th meeting of the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the GUUAM States within the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of OSCE in Bulgaria in 2004.
New-York, 23 September 2004
