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Tbilisi: GUAM Summit In Batumi

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  • Tbilisi: GUAM Summit In Batumi

    GUAM SUMMIT IN BATUMI

    02/07/2008 16:01
    The FINANCIAL
    Georgia

    The FINANCIAL -- According to Civil Georgia, President Saakashvili
    said on July 1 Georgia was in "a difficult situation" as an attempt
    to seize its territories was underway.

    Speaking after the GUAM summit in Batumi, Saakashvili said: "There is
    an attempt to impose on Georgia a scenario similar to the one that was
    imposed on Europe and implemented in respect of Czechoslovakia through
    the Munich agreement [in 1938], as well as in respect of Poland and
    the Baltic states through the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact [in 1939]."

    "I hope that a new "Munich" and "Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact" - dividing
    Europe into spheres of influence, partitioning territories and revising
    borders, will not be implemented in today's world."

    Saakashvili was speaking at a joint briefing with Azerbaijani,
    Ukrainian , Polish and Lithuanian leaders, who participated in the
    GUAM summit in the Adjaran Autonomous Republic.

    GUAM is an organization uniting Georgia, Ukraine , Azerbaijan and
    Moldova.

    The Moldovan president, Vladimir Voronin, however, was not present. In
    March Voronin criticized GUAM and said that the group had failed to
    bring any tangible results. Moldova instead sent its interior minister
    to the summit.

    The Lithuanian and Polish presidents, Valdas Adamkus and Lech
    KaczyÅ~Dski, respectively, attended the summit as invited guests. The
    Czech foreign minister, Karel Schwarzenberg, was also in Batumi.

    Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said after the summit that GUAM
    had turned into "a very effective organization."

    In his address, the Azerbaijani president underlined that apart from
    economic cooperation, the increased political coordination between GUAM
    members had already brought tangible results in various international
    organizations. In this regard, Aliyev noted the a UN General Assembly
    resolution demanding the immediate withdrawal of "all Armenian forces
    from all occupied territories." Aliyev thanked GUAM member states for
    supporting the resolution and added that Azerbaijan had supported a
    Georgian-sponsored UN General Assembly resolution on Abkhazia.

    Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko focused on economic cooperation
    and implementation of energy and economic projects in the frames of
    GUAM. He also said that the summit demonstrated the organization had
    an action plan on how to develop further.

    The Polish president said after the summit that his country supported
    granting NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Georgia and Ukraine in
    December 2008.

    The Lithuanian president said that GUAM was not only gaining strength,
    but was also gaining more and "more friends."

    President Adamkus encouraged a continuation of close political
    cooperation with a focus on domestic reforms and the promotion
    of democracy and European values, with special attention to
    infrastructural projects, especially those in the fields of transport
    and energy.

    In a joint declaration the GUAM leaders have pledged "to stand jointly
    against common risks and threats" and reiterated "adherence to the
    peaceful settlement of the conflicts in the GUAM region on the basis of
    respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity."

    The Batumi summit declaration also called for "development and
    full-scale utilization of the Member States' transit potential,
    with the involvement of international investment and participation
    of partner countries."

    During the summit GUAM-U.S.; GUAM-Japan; GUAM-Poland and GUAM-Czech
    Republic meetings were also held.

    --Boundary_(ID_kB4dq1skuMiHssSkYuQwcA)--
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