GUAM Sec.-Gen.: Azerbaijan's chairmanship successful
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan's chairmanship in the regional group GUAM in 2012 has been very successful, Secretary General Valery Chechelashvili told journalists in Baku on Wednesday.
Baku is hosting the fifth meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of GUAM, which comprises Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova. Issues relating to the activities carried out so far and prospects of further cooperation among the member states are on the GUAM PA agenda.
"Many important events have been held, with the last one being in Dublin, where a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers took place," Chechelashvili said. "The Azerbaijani chairmanship ended in New York on a very good note. A resolution was adopted by consensus on cooperation between the UN and GUAM, which strengthens our credibility, reputation and position in the system of international relations."
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov, speaking of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the meeting, said the OSCE Minsk Group has not achieved significant progress in resolving the long-standing conflict.
Azimov also expressed hope that Ukraine during its OSCE chairmanship in 2013 will always focus on the GUAM platform.
"Azerbaijan during its chairmanship in GUAM voiced a number of important initiatives and tried to expand the organization's relations on the international arena," Azimov said.
Appreciating the work of the GUAM Secretariat, Azimov stressed that it had initiated regional projects and worked hard to develop international cooperation. He noted that it is extremely important to achieve specific results in GUAM's activity.
"Conflicts occur in most member countries and resolving these conflicts must be a priority in joint activity," Azimov said, adding that much has to be done to increase the trade turnover, develop business relations and tourism.
Azerbaijani MP Elton Mammadov, chairing the GUAM PA meeting, said the unresolved conflicts in the territory of GUAM member states significantly affect Europe's security.
Mammadov said it is possible to restore stability in the region only within the internationally recognized territorial integrity of countries.
According to Mammadov, the GUAM PA meeting will contribute to the development of cooperation between GUAM member countries.
According to the Azerbaijani parliament's first Deputy Speaker, Ziyafat Asgarov, GUAM will become one of the most influential organizations in the world in the near future.
Asgarov said at the meeting that the role of parliamentary diplomacy is growing in today's world and this meeting became the largest in terms of its composition among the meetings that the organization has held so far.
"We live in such a time when regional integration processes are ongoing. GUAM has begun to play an important role in ensuring regional security," Asgarov added.
The meeting agenda includes the integration of the member states into Europe, cooperation within the EU's Eastern Partnership program, the role of parliaments in ensuring regional security, the energy potential of the regional countries and other issues.
The fifth meeting is attended by national delegations of the GUAM PA, delegations of the Baltic Assembly, parliaments of the Benelux countries, the parliamentary delegations of the Visegrad Group member countries, as well as representatives of ministries and other agencies of Azerbaijan, embassies of GUAM PA member countries and partner countries accredited in Azerbaijan.
GUAM was established by the post-Soviet countries in 1997 during the EU presidential summit in Strasbourg. In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the organisation, but withdrew four years later.