THE BAKU SUMMIT OF GUAM:

The summit of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development or, if we use the more habitual name - GUAM - was held in Baku on 18-19 June. It was attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Polish President Lech Kachynski, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, Romanian President Traian Basescu, Moldovan Prime Minister Vasil Tarlev and Bulgarian Vice-President Angel Marin, as well as top officials from the US State Department and the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The summit was attended by representatives from 25 countries and international organizations, including the UN, OSCE, NATO, the Council of Europe and so on.

The Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) held a meeting within the framework of the summit. The ministers approved "the plan of interaction between international organizations". One of the priorities in this sphere is the joint initiative, 'On protracted conflicts in GUAM' at the UN General Assembly. The calendar plan of GUAM events in 2007-08 under the presidency of Azerbaijan was also approved. Organizational issues related to the activities of the GUAM secretariat and to the budget of the organization were solved. The CFM discussed issues related to the setting up of GUAM peacekeeping forces, both military and police forces, in the future. Sessions of GUAM economic organizations - the ministries of energy, communications, transport and customs committees, as well as representatives of the law-enforcement agencies, national security agencies, interior ministries, emergency ministries, prosecutor-general's offices and border services - were held in parallel. Representatives of the GUAM humanitarian block - the ministries of education, culture, tourism, youth and sports, as well as the presidents of academies of sciences - also held a meeting.

Ten documents were signed during the summit, including: the Baku declaration; the intergovernmental agreement of GUAM countries on cooperation and mutual assistance on issues of nuclear and radiation security; the agreement on GUAM privileges and immunities; the intergovernmental agreement of GUAM countries on international multi-modal cargo transportation; the protocol on cooperation between GUAM countries in the sphere of culture in 2007-10; and the communiqu? of the GUAM summit. The meeting ended with a scientific-practical conference called "GUAM in the region and worldwide". Incidentally, the conference was attended not only by local and foreign diplomats and analysts, but also by the author of this article.

As an initiative, GUAM has existed for about 10 years but only in May 2006 was it proclaimed an international organization at the Kiev summit. Everything began as an informal association of states suffering from separatism inspired and supported by Moscow. In parallel, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova began pursuing a coordinated political line mainly to counter Russia's aspiration to transform the CIS into something resembling the former socialist commonwealth or even the USSR. As we know, these plans were discarded in the end as they were too unrealistic, and the CIS has no future today. As for GUAM, this organization, despite the predictions of sceptics and ill-wishers, is getting stronger and developing. The task of coordinating efforts to counter aggressive separatism is now supplemented by partnership on integration into the Euro-Atlantic area. This goal was openly declared by GUAM member states through its expansion of relations with NATO and the EU.

A whole raft of economic and political indicators shows that GUAM has been given a new lease of life. Suffice it to point out that trade turnover within GUAM has doubled in the last two years and is approaching 3bn dollars. Azerbaijan and Ukraine are already the second and third most important trading partners for Georgia. Every time there are difficulties with gas, power and diesel fuel supplies in Ukraine, Georgia or Moldova, Azerbaijan steps in to help. In turn, Ukraine is actively cooperating with Azerbaijan in the military-technical sphere. The importance of partnership within the framework of GUAM is also reflected in public consciousness. According to the results of a poll conducted by the Puls-R sociological service earlier this year, Georgia and Ukraine occupy third and fourth places among the countries recognised as friends of Azerbaijan in the population's consciousness.

Among the many directions of partnership within GUAM, the priority is countering aggressive separatism and the settlement of protracted conflicts on their territories in line with the norms of international law. President Ilham Aliyev said in his speech: "We are trying to solve the problem of restoring the territorial integrity of three states in a peaceful way and on the basis of the norms of international law, but this problem has not been solved yet." He pointed out that GUAM members should become strong states and join efforts in this direction: "…We must explain the criminal essence of separatist regimes to the whole world. It is pleasing that GUAM is demonstrating a single position on this issue." Aliyev described the inclusion of the issue of frozen post-Soviet conflicts on the agenda of the 61st session of the UN General Assembly as a great success for GUAM. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in his speech that "…GUAM countries must be very careful because borders are being re-divided in Europe. We must make sure that there is no Munich or Yalta - under no pretext."

Ukraine is lucky to have been able to prevent pockets of separatism in its territory. For this reason, in his address to the GUAM summit, President Viktor Yushchenko paid more attention to the economic and energy component of cooperation. He noted the special importance of the transport corridor that goes through the territory of GUAM member states, stressing the need to restore the ancient Silk Road. Talking about the achievements of the organization, he pointed out that a virtual centre and a centre for the international dissemination of information have been set up within the framework of GUAM.

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin did not attend the summit (Moldova was represented by Prime Minister Vasil Tarlev) as he was holding negotiations in Brussels and then with President Putin in Moscow. Some media even said that Chisinau might take the same evolutionary path as Uzbekistan and quit GUAM in the end. It is notable that Moscow is actively trying to persuade Chisinau to do so, promising to open its market to Moldova's traditional export goods (wine, fruit and milk products) and to help solve the Dniester conflict.

Time will show how well-grounded these assumptions are, but it is clear that Moscow has a careful if not openly hostile attitude to GUAM. Commentaries in many Russian newspapers describe GUAM as an anti-Russian organization. Although it is far from being true since nothing in the policy of GUAM itself or of its member states demonstrates hostility against Russia. No-one is going to harm Russia and its people. It is another thing to oppose the diktat of Moscow and the Russian circles that still want to decide for us where we should integrate and with whom we should develop our relations. But this is the right and duty of any state that values its independence. So despite all the idle talk, GUAM is not an instrument created by the Americans to annoy Moscow, although the USA has been giving political and certain financial support to this organization from the very beginning.

GUAM evolved naturally and only after that did it get support from the USA. The document on the results of the GUAM-USA meeting says that Washington expresses its support for the long-term development of GUAM as a regional organization, as well as to the peaceful settlement of conflicts and the territorial integrity of GUAM member states within internationally-recognized borders. The American delegation supports efforts to ensure nuclear security and carry out multi-modal cargo transportation. The USA expressed its readiness to render financial aid to the activities of the newly-created GUAM secretariat. In autumn this year, it is planned to hold a meeting between the national coordinators of GUAM and representatives of the State Department and a GUAM-USA conference in Washington.

The representative nature of the Baku summit of GUAM gave rise toa lot of talk about the imminent expansion of this organization, though in reality GUAM does not need this at all. I should remind you that, earlier, Uzbekistan joined GUAM and then left. But we cannot say that other post-Soviet republics will have no desire to join GUAM, especially as the pragmatic thesis which was announced by Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov at the scientific conference on the prospects of GUAM - the "GUAM+" formula - seems more likely. According to this formula, GUAM prefers to develop partnerships with all interested states. This is confirmed by the separate format of meetings during the Baku summit with US and Japanese representatives, as well as with the Polish president. Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria show a clear interest in interaction with GUAM.

The summit was not attended by top representatives from Turkey. Perhaps this is related to the domestic political situation in the country (extraordinary parliamentary and presidential elections) as well as to the fact that immediately after the Baku summit of GUAM, it was planned to hold a BSEC summit in Istanbul of which all GUAM countries are members. It cannot be ruled out that projects lobbied for within the framework of GUAM - the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline (a Trans-Caspian gas pipeline that bypasses Turkey and goes through Ukraine) - and which contradict Ankara's interests, played a role here.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan took over the presidency of GUAM from Ukraine. In this regard, the programme for 2007-08 was approved. It said that the Azerbaijani side suggests measures in the following directions during its presidency:

-Cooperation to settle protracted conflicts in GUAM;

-Cooperation in the law-enforcement area and on security issues;

-Interaction within the framework of international organizations, cooperation with other countries and international organizations;

-Interaction in the economic area and assistance to cooperation between GUAM business circles;

-Cooperation in the areas of transport, communications and information technology, the development of GUAM transport corridors;

-Cooperation to ensure energy security, including the use of alternative sources of energy;

-Cooperation in the area of preventing emergencies;

-Assistance to cooperation within the framework of the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly;

-Cooperation in the humanitarian area and in the area of tourism;

-The completion of the process of institutionalizing GUAM.

These directions do not include the expected stepping up of efforts to strengthen GUAM's partnership with Kazakhstan and Turkey. Taking account of Azerbaijan's traditionally close relations with these countries, Baku is able to achieve this task.

The next summit of GUAM is planned for Tbilisi in June 2008. Before that, much has to be done during Azerbaijan's presidency of GUAM. GUAM is a purely pragmatic organization. Its members have ambitions, but no problem of leadership. The GUAM member states are united by the community of their tasks and mutual benefits from partnership. For this reason, practical work and real results will best represent GUAM and open up new prospects for cooperation.