GUAM Council meeting to take place in Kiev

The meeting of the Committee of National Coordinators (CNC) of the GUAM Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development will take place on March 15-16 in Kiev (Ukraine). According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, coordinators will discuss topics related to the institutional development and launching of the Kiev-based GUAM Secretary, collaboration of member countries within the international organisation, the actions necessary to implement the Agreement on the creation of the Free Trade Zone within GUAM will be concluded, the adjusted schedule of GUAM events in 2007 will be approved and the sector cooperation of the member states in the fields of regional stability and security will be estimated, as well as of the fight against terrorism and organised crime, cooperation in economy and trade, transport, energy, culture and tourism, informational technologies, exceptional situations, science and education. At the same time, a special topic for discussions will be the next GUAM Summit of the heads of state scheduled for June in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the shift to Ukraine of the GUAM Presidency held currently by Azerbaijan. The delegation of Moldova is headed by Valeriu Ostalep, deputy-minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, GUAM National Coordinator. The cooperation between Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova started with the GUAM consultative forum, established on October 10, 1997, in Strasbourg and named after the initial letters of each of those countries. In April 1999, Uzbekistan also joined, changing the name of the grouping temporarily to GUUAM. A summit in Yalta on June 6-7, 2001, was accompanied by the signing of GUUAM's charter, which formalised the organisation. On May 24, 2005, Uzbekistan gave an official notice of withdrawal from the organisation to the Moldovan Presidency of GUAM.