The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM held a meeting on November 29, 2013 in Vilnius, the Republic of Lithuania, in the margins of the Eastern Partnership Summit. The High Participants, with reference to the GUAM Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs Meeting in Warsaw, welcomed the establishment of the tradition of holding GUAM – EU consultations within the framework of the Eastern Partnership initiative. In this light, the High Participants welcomed participation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, Mr. Linas Linkevicius, in the capacity of Lithuanian EU Presidency, in their Meeting.

The High Participants noted with satisfaction the progress achieved by the GUAM Member States in the process of their European integration and welcomed the anticipated concluding by Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova of the Association Agreements with the EU, including DCFTAs.

The High Participants reconfirmed their support for the spirit and values enshrined in the GUAM CMFA Warsaw Statement on the prospects for cooperation and European integration, in accordance with national foreign policy priorities of the GUAM Member States. They were unanimous in the vision that the way towards regional cooperation and integration can only be paved through trust and stability. The High Participants stressed the importance of the European Union’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of GUAM Member States within their internationally recognized borders and its sustained efforts to achieve a peaceful settlement to conflicts in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova on the basis of abovementioned norms and principles of international law.

In this regard the High Participants emphasised the sovereign right of any state to choose its foreign policy goals and stressed once again the unacceptability of any kind of pressure on the countries for the purpose of making them change their choice.
The High Participants shared the view that after the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius the GUAM format may serve as a relevant platform for implementing joint EU-GUAM projects and programmes of cooperation in various spheres and, to this end, noted the advantages of GUAM’s well-established organisational and institutional infrastructure. In particular, they underlined prospects for cooperation in the spheres of energy, transport, trade, tourism, education, combating international crime, etc., and offered to establish a framework for consultations in order to identify areas of common interest.

The High Participants once again emphasised that GUAM is an open organisation that invites EU and other partners, who share the principles and spirit of its Charter, to contribute to regional integration and stability, and to promote understanding, trust and confidence within the Black Sea – Caspian Sea region.

November 29, 2013