GUUAM countries sign historic charter (06/17/01)

GUUAM countries sign historic charter

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The presidents of Ukraine and four other countries located in the southern space of the former Soviet Union officially signed a historic charter on June 7, creating the first international organization in that region in which Russia is not a member.

The five countries, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova and Ukraine have developed closer ties in the last four years through regular meetings and an annual summit of a group known under the acronym GUUAM. The charter, which they signed in Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula during a two-day summit that began on June 6, formalized their relations and committed the new partners to closer economic and trade coordination, a prime purpose of the new organization.

The initial idea behind GUUAM, first pushed by President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine, was to redevelop the transportation corridor of the Great Silk Road, the legendary trading route by which goods flowed from Asia to Europe in past centuries. He said that the member-states by uniting would acquire certain advantages in the modern international economic order.

"These are states that realize the importance of mutual support, coordination of efforts in conditions set by this period of globalization," stated Mr. Kuchma during his opening address to the summit, according to Interfax-Ukraine. The Ukrainian president explained that the five countries are united by common interests, steady economic ties, geographic proximity and a similarity of views.

The charter, signed in Yalta's Livadia Palace, where Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed on the pact that divided post-World War II Europe in 1945, calls for cooperation and assistance among the countries in social and economic development, the strengthening and broadening of trade and economic relations, and development and effective use of transport and communications highways and related infrastructure passing through the territories of the member-states.

The new informal headquarters for GUUAM will be Yalta, and the first head of the organization in what will be a rotating chairmanship will be President Gaidar Aliyev of Azerbaijan.

While some members had expected the new economic partners to immediately create a free trade zone among their states, which was one of Mr. Kuchma's prime objectives in developing GUUAM, that did not happen. President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan stressed at the concluding press conference that more work was needed to develop and coordinate the mechanisms for freeing trade in the region. He explained that two of the member-states, Georgia and Moldova, are members of the World Trade Organization and must coordinate entry into such an arrangement with the WTO. He said he expected the agreement would be signed at next year's summit.

To calm Moscow's possible nervousness over a new international political association on its southern flank, President Kuchma overtly discounted any possibility that GUUAM could become either an economic or political threat. He explained that the creation of prosperity in the area would benefit everybody, "especially our close neighbors." He also said that GUUAM's perspectives would remain strictly economic.

"We do not set as a goal the creation of any military or political entities, even in the long term," said Mr. Kuchma.

Meanwhile Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, a Communist who has expressed interest in becoming part of the Belarus-Russia union, expressed his opinion that Moscow should receive observer status in GUUAM.

Informal discussions during the Yalta summit involved the possible expansion of the new economic association and a change in its name, both of which are inevitable, according to Mr. Kuchma, given the international interest in it.

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze noted that he would support the entry of Bulgaria and Romania, both of which have expressed keen interest in membership. President Kuchma said he had received overtures from China and Pakistan. He explained that the two countries have legitimate rights to inclusion because the Great Silk Road passed within their boundaries also.

The United States responded positively to formalizing the organization to develop the interests of the member-states even before the summit. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, in an interview on the U.S. Embassy Television Network on June 4, said the organization would help members develop their common interests.

"I find that these nations working together can raise the level of their voice, make sure that they're not overlooked. And I think that they can look forward to a very positive cooperation with the United States," said Mr. Armitage.

The U.S. deputy secretary of state also maintained that he does not think the newly chartered association would cause problems for Moscow or that it is "anti-Russian." On the contrary, he said it would stimulate foreign trade in the area.

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