On September 23, 2004, in New York City, the GUUAM Countries and the United States met to further their dialogue and level of cooperation at the Seventh Meeting of the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of GUUAM Countries. The U.S. delegation was led by Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs A. Elizabeth Jones.
The participants stressed the importance of continued GUUAM-U.S. cooperation, particularly with respect to the common goals of combating international terrorism and organized crime, enhancing border security and customs control, and facilitating trade and transportation.
The U.S. commended Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine for their June 2004 ratification of Action Plans for the GUUAM Trade and Transport Facilitation (TTF) project, as well as the Virtual Center and Interstate Information Management System (IIMS) for GUUAM law enforcement cooperation. The formal ratification of these projects by these four GUUAM countries paves the way for implementation of the TTF and Virtual Center projects. The Parties agreed to continue to cooperate and to fully support providing U.S. and European advisors to these projects. GUUAM projects will increase cooperation and bring new tools to the region for fighting transnational organized crime and corruption and increasing legitimate trade and customs revenue. The U.S. supports GUUAM’s continued outreach to the EU for involvement on these projects.
The U.S. also commended GUUAM for obtaining observer status at the UN, and for establishing the GUUAM Information Office in Kyiv, which the GUUAM countries will support with personnel, a budget and an Internet site. The U.S. welcomes the creation of the GUUAM Parliamentary Assembly at its founding meeting on 23 September 2004 in Kyiv and considers that this new GUUAM institution will promote speedy development of appropriate legislation to support the aims of cooperative GUUAM projects.
