The Heads of State of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM

DECLARING that the comprehensive use of the transit potential of the GUAM Member States, whose territories constitute a natural corridor between Asia and Europe, will lead to improvement of regional significance of the Organization in global integration processes,

RELYING on the GUAM Strategy for Sector Cooperation Development (paragraph 2 – “transport” of the I Part “Economic Block”), especially, in the part referred to the “improvement of a key role of GUAM in the formation of transportation corridor Europe – Caucasus – Asia” and transforming it into a system-creating component of developing the economy, stimulating trade, private entrepreneurship and investment throughout the GUAM area,

RECOGNIZING the necessity of proceeding to practical measures to stimulate international passenger traffic and freight services along the route following the historic Great Silk Road,

REALIZING the important role of partnership between the public and private sectors with the purpose of ensuring favorable transit conditions through the territories of the GUAM Member States,

CONFIRMING the necessity of full-scale utilization of the advantages of the GUAM Free Trade Area,

TAKING into consideration the results of the International Conference “GUAM – Transit” held in Baku on 29-30 April 2008,

  1. Instruct the Governments to elaborate a comprehensive concept of the GUAM transportation corridor, inter alia, by means of using the capacities of the private sector.
  2. Support practically-oriented projects for modernizing infrastructure of the GUAM transportation corridor, including such its components as Baku – Poti/Batumi, Odessa – Chisinau, Chisinau –Western border of Moldova, Kyiv – Western border of Ukraine and international railway ferry between ports of Kerch and Poti/Batumi as well as Combined Transportation Train “Viking” project and establishing a consortium for extension of this route through the territories of Georgia and Azerbaijan to the Central Asian countries.
  3. Welcome the beginning of implementation of a central route of the New Eurasian Transport Initiative (NELTI) elaborated by the International Road Union (IRU) envisaging development of both Trans-Caspian and Trans-Black-Sea links of the GUAM corridor;
  4. Instruct the Governments to take the necessary measures to realize the provisions of this Statement and to submit the report on its implementation to the Council.