Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

The sixth meeting of the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly opened in Tbilisi, Georgia on December 2.

The parliamentary delegations from Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Poland, Latvia and Estonia are involved in the session.

Speaking at the meeting, Georgian Parliamentary Speaker David Usupashvili welcomed the participants of the meeting.

"The event is important for Georgia as the establishment of GUAM and its activity over the years have been a priority for Georgia," Usupashvili said.

"I am glad that this organization has laid the foundation for close cooperation not only among member-states, but also among international organizations and friendly countries. Despite there were some difficulties in the development process, the organization turned out to be viable. I am glad that Georgia has become a chairing country in GUAM this year."

Usupashvili also spoke about the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius and stressed that Georgia and other GUAM members pinned great hope on it.

"When we agreed on cooperation in a GUAM format, we agreed that we will move together to a common goal - democratic stability in the region," he said. "But we agreed that each country has its unique way to achieve this goal."

The Tbilisi meeting will end on December 3 with adoption of a final document. The bilateral and multilateral meetings will be held within then event.

Also, Georgia will transfer the chairmanship in the organization to other country by rotation.

GUAM was established by the post-Soviet countries in 1997 during the EU presidential summit at Strasbourg. In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the organization and left four years later. A decision was made to rename GUAM as an international organization. It was called the 'Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM', at the body's first summit in Kiev in 2006.