On September 26, 2013, in New York, the 19th meeting of the GUAM Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs with the United States of America took place within the framework of the 68th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. The GUAM Side was represented by: Mrs. Maia Panjikidze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia (GUAM Presidency); Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Mr. Valeriu Chiveri, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova; Mr. Leonid Kozhara, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine; and Mr. Valeri Chechelashivili, GUAM Secretary General. The United States was represented by Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.
The Parties assessed their cooperation following the last GUAM-USA Ministerial Meeting, held in New York on September 26, 2012, and exchanged views on issues of mutual interest. Both Parties expressed interest in the dialogue that has taken place since the establishment of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM.
The Parties exchanged views on the protracted conflicts in the GUAM region, and reiterated their belief that the international community should intensify efforts on the settlement of these conflicts on the basis of the UN Charter, Helsinki Principles and documents adopted in these formats. They agreed to continue dialogue on the issue in the appropriate forums.
The Parties emphasized the significance of the Eastern Partnership Vilnius Summit (November 28- 29, 2013) and expressed their support of the European aspirations of GUAM member states.
The Parties reconfirmed decisions reflected in the GUAM – USA Joint Statement of 26 September 2012 on the importance of projects, supported by the United States and jointly implemented with other international organizations and structures, inter alia, to combat money-laundering, illegal drugs trafficking (both jointly with UNODC) and corruption (jointly with OECD/ACN). They supported the implementation of an infrastructure extension project for the GUAM Virtual Center on Combating Terrorism, Organized Crime, Drug Trafficking and Other Dangerous Types of Crime (VLEC) and a Cryptographic Protection System within VLEC. GUAM Ministers expressed their gratitude to the United States for its important assistance to GUAM, both financial and technical.
The Parties reconfirmed their desire to continue high-level dialogue on a broad range of regional and global issues.
The time and venue of next GUAM-USA meeting will be agreed through diplomatic channels.
