Malena Mard: Cooperation with GUAM requires more attention
By Amina Nazarli
Issues related to the cooperation with GUAM Organization for
Democracy and Economic Development have been put on the agenda in
Brussels.
Head of the EU delegation in Azerbaijan Malena Mard announced about
this during the round table dedicated to "GUAM and Visegrad Group:
Possibilities and limitations of regional cooperation" in Baku on
November 7.
"It is necessary to pay more attention to issues relating to cooperation with GUAM and its member states. GUAM is also Europe and this should be remembered," said Mard.
Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Azerbaijan Vitezslav Pivonka, in turn, said that the purpose of the round table is to strengthen cooperation between the two institutions -GUAM and Visegrad Group.
"There is no country in Europe, which is not concerned about the issue of energy security, and this area is one of the important areas of cooperation between GUAM and Visegrad," he emphasized.
One of the priority areas for cooperation is tourism, according
to the Czech ambassador.
"Separatism, which now threatens the entire world, is another issue
that should be paid attention," he said.
Altay Efendiyev, Secretary General of the GUAM said that GUAM and
Visegrad Group countries work on defining areas of cooperation.
"We have reached an agreement to start work on the preparation of experts meeting of GUAM and Visegrad Group countries to agree on the main directions and priority areas of cooperation. The direction in which the GUAM countries can borrow experience of the Visegrad Group in reform and diversification of the economy, as well as cooperation within the European Union in the field of transport and tourism will be determined during the meetings," he said.
In May 2015 at GUAM's meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Bratislava, the sides decided to move from the traditional format of meetings to more practical and applied cooperation.
GUAM countries can cooperate in the fields of transport, tourism, energy, economy, according to Efendiyev.
"We, as the Secretariat, have expressed our wishes to the Visegrad Group on the importance of these spheres," he said.
Efendiyev went on saying that next year GUAM and the Visegrad Group will be able to reach a new level of substantive political cooperation.
The GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) format was established by post-Soviet countries in 1997 during the summit of heads of States of the European Union in Strasbourg. In 2006, the states decided to declare GUAM an international organization, and it was renamed to the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development.
The Visegrad Group, consist of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary was founded in 1991 as a regional club aimed at strengthening cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe.
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on
Twitter: @amina_nazarli
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