DC seminar focuses on GUUAM alliance (07/08/01)

DC seminar focuses on GUUAM alliance

by Nikolas Tysiak
Ukrainian National Information Service

WASHINGTON - A delegation of Eastern and Central European government and non-governmental officials presented their views on "Economic and Military Cooperation in the Newly Independent States" (NIS) at a June 6 seminar. The Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, part of the Woodrow Wilson Center, sponsored the seminar. Approximately 150 people attended.

The speakers included officials representing five countries: Yuri Shalyt, head of Department of Military Issues, National Security and Defense Council, and rear admiral, Ukraine; Kakha Katsitadze, director, Strategy Planning Department, National Security Council, Georgia; Yuri Pinzaru, former advisor to the president on international affairs, Moldova; Javanshir Mammadov, first secretary, Department of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Azerbaijan; and Armen Yedigarian, director, Americas Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Armenia.

The seminar mainly focused on the GUUAM alliance (Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova). The alliance was universally seen by the panelists as a steppingstone toward greater organization for the Black Sea region.

The speakers commented on the inherent similarities of the countries in the region: all have emerging economies, they live in the shadow of their former imperial ruler, they all rely heavily on the West and all have a very strong desire to gain total independence.

The panelists felt that in order to truly succeed, the GUUAM alliance should expand and incorporate all the former Soviet republics, and also include some of former satellite states, such as Bulgaria and Romania. The delegates felt that a regional organization for the resolution of regional differences and the pursuit of common interests could bolster the independence of the countries involved.

According to the Ukrainian representative, Rear Admiral Shalyt, Ukraine has not fully been able to pursue its interests within the GUUAM alliance due to the lack of formality. The GUUAM alliance could have helped remove the Russian military's presence in Ukraine, but Ukraine had already agreed to lease the Black Sea port of Sevastopol to the Russian Navy for 20 years.

When asked by an audience member about the ever-present shadow of Russia in the region, the panelists all expressed their personal wishes to see their respective states establish themselves as economically independent. According to the panelists, the GUAAM nations need to be economically free to trade with whatever country they choose.

The countries involved need to find a way to avoid having different foreign powers (e.g., the United States Russia, the European Union) compete for dominance within the region. Instead of being subjected to spheres of influence, the GUUAM countries emphasized sovereignty and economic cooperation as the ultimate goals of their alliance, the panelists underlined.

The panelists were confident that the recent GUUAM summit in Yalta would lead to a strenghtening of in the structure of GUUAM and to the signing of a formal charter. This structure could allow all the goals and interests of the different GUUAM countries, and eventually those of their neighbors, to be fulfilled.

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