Five Presidents Sign Batumi Declaration

The Presidents of five countries have signed a Declaration ‘GUAM –Integrating Europe’s East’ as a result of the GUAM Batumi summit. Declaration approves loyalty of countries to democratic values, respect to human rights and freedom, reservation of spiritual and cultural heritage of nations and strengthening of tolerance, according to TREND Information.

The document was signed by the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Ukraine’s Viktor Yushchenko, Georgia’s Mikhail Saakashvili, Lithuania’s Valdas Adamkus and Poland’s Lech Kaczyński.

The sides touched upon the invariability to develop regional cooperation as a part of European and Asian integration processes, as well as strengthen the international partner relations of GUAM with the United States, Poland, Japan and other countries, as well as international organizations.

Declaration expresses concern with threats caused by long standing conflicts, aggressive separatism, extremism and international terrorism. Declaration shows readiness of GUAM member-countries to resist to aforesaid threats through the close cooperation with other countries and international organizations.

Presidents of GUAM member-countries expressed will to further development of energy security system and to support efforts to liberalize and diversification of the European energy power market.

Four post-Soviet republics; Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, established the GUAM format in 1997 during a summit of presidents of European Union countries in Strasburg. In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the organization but left four years later. In 2006, at the first summit of the organization in Kiev a decision was made to announce GUAM as an international organization with a new name; Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM.