On 23 May 2006 Presidents of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine took part at the GUAM Summit in Kyiv (Ukraine). Presidents of Lithuania and Poland, Vice-President of Bulgaria, and high-level representatives of Romania, Kazakhstan, the USA and also, of international organizations, such as the OSCE, BSEC and diplomatic missions, participated in the Summit as guests.
The Heads of State expressed gratitude to President Vladimir Voronin for the successful chairmanship of Moldova in the GUAM during the preceding period. In accordance with the decision of the Summit, Ukraine has taken over the chairmanship.
The Heads of GUAM States reviewed the implementation of the decisions adopted at the 2005 Chisinau Summit, perspectives of development of interaction in the context of ensuring democracy, stability and development in the region, cooperation in the spheres of economy, energy, trade, transport and security, and also, development of cooperation with other States and international organizations.
The Heads of GUAM States emphasized with satisfaction that over the last year the necessary mechanisms have been created to ensure successful cooperation, thus enabling to step into a new stage of cooperation with involvement of other states and international organizations. They reaffirmed determination of their countries to take consistent and consolidated efforts to implement decisions of the Chisinau Declaration “In the name of democracy, stability and development”.
The Heads of State noted the high level of cooperation within the Parliamentary Assembly of GUAM and called the Assembly to actively contribute to the institutional consolidation of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Cooperation – GUAM.
They stressed importance of regular meetings of the secretaries of councils of national security and defense with the purpose of preparation of proposals for cooperation in the spheres of security and economy.
The participants of the Summit paid special attention to challenges and threats of modern time: international terrorism, aggressive separatism and extremism, and transnational organized crime.
It was emphasized that these threats, as well as unresolved conflicts and illegal presence of foreign troops and armaments in GUAM States are recognized as main obstacles on the way to full-scale democratic transformations and economic development in the region.
The participants of the meeting reviewed the processes of settlement of conflicts in GUAM States since the time of the Chisinau Summit.
They noticed positive shifts in the implementation of step-by-step Plan of settlement of the Transnistrian conflict “To settlement through democracy”, presented at the Chisinau Summit, including continuation of negotiation process with participation of USA and EU. They positively assessed the EU Mission activities related to the provision of assistance on the Ukrainian-Moldovan state border.
The Heads of State gave high appraisal and stressed the necessity to implement the Plan of peaceful settlement of the conflict in Tskhinvali region/South Osetia, Georgia, presented by Georgia and supported by the OSCE Council of Ministers in Ljubljana on 5 December 2005. Signing of the agreements between Georgia and the Russian Federation on the terms of withdrawal of the Russian military bases and transit of the armaments subject to withdrawal was mentioned with satisfaction.
The Heads of State called for implementation of the UNSC resolutions regarding the conflict in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan and of the principles of settlement of this conflict, elaborated at the OSCE Lisbon Summit. A hope for effective continuation of the negotiation process based on the above mentioned documents was expressed.
The Heads of State decided to enhance interaction with the view to intensify the processes of settlement of conflicts and adopted a Joint Declaration on these issues.
The participants of the Summit highly assessed the level of interaction in combating terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking and other dangerous types of crimes. They welcomed the Joint Statement of the law enforcement authorities of the GUAM Member States as a result of the meeting in Kyiv on 22 May 2006, and signing by the Heads of Border Services of the Protocol Concerning Cooperation Between Operation Bodies of Border Services of the GUAM States in the framework of the Summit.
The Heads of State welcomed the start of implementation of the Trade and Transport Facilitation Project (TTFP) and the establishment of the Virtual Center for combating terrorism and the Interstate Information Management System (VC/IIMS) Project, implemented with support of a Euroatlantic Advisory Team and the SECI Center. They also welcome the beginning of implementation of the Agreement on Free Trade Area.
The Heads of State expressed their appreciation to the US Government for effective assistance in implementation of the said projects and other programs within the GUAM. They welcomed adoption of the GUAM-United States Joint Statement at the Summit and pointed out the necessity to interact in the implementation of these projects.
The importance of development of mutually beneficial contacts between GUAM and the European Union, and also, with regional organizations, programs and initiatives, such as the BSEC, the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, the Visegrad Group, the South Eastern European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) and others, was stressed.
The perspective of further cooperation of GUAM States in the UN and OSCE was underlined, and necessity to use this experience in other international organizations was emphasized. They welcomed adoption of GUAM action plans for cooperation within the UN and OSCE.
The Heads of State underscored the importance of development of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, including culture, education, health care, youth exchange, tourism and sports.
They also welcomed signing of the Agreement between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the GUAM States for training of diplomatic representatives.
Following their decisions, adopted at the Chisinau Summit, the GUAM Heads of State declared the establishment of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM and signed its Charter.
The Heads of State expressed their confidence that the establishment of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM will ensure achievement of the set purposes and enable to deepen and enhance cooperation of its Member States.
They stressed that the priorities of the future Organization shall be strengthening of the values of democracy, the rule of law, human rights and freedoms, stability and security, combating international terrorism, aggressive separatism, extremism and transnational organized crime, deepening of the European integration and achievement of sustainable development and well-being of their peoples.
The Heads of State particularly emphasized that GUAM is open organization, and any state, sharing its purposes and principles, may join it. They also adopted the Decision concerning the GUAM’s partnership with the interested states and international organizations, and approved the relevant provisions.
