UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR ACTIVE ROLE OF GUAM
Xinhua, China
2008-07-02 03:13:31
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko asked GUAM, a regional
organization of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, on Tuesday to
be more active in regional affairs, according to reports reaching here.
"The frozen conflicts in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova, are factors
of destabilization, so we should intensify their peaceful settlement
on principles of territorial integrity," Itar-Tass quoted Yushchenko
as saying at the GUAM summit in Batumi, Georgia.
"So far, the Abkhazia, Ossetian and Karabakh settlement negotiations
have not been very efficient," he said, referring to Georgian and
Azerbaijan’s breakaway regions.
Separatist in Abkhazia self-proclaimed independence after bloody
conflicts with the Georgian government in the 1990s and an uneasy
ceasefire was monitored by peacekeepers from Russia.
Armed conflict broke out in the early 1990s between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region’s status after it declared
independence, which was not recognized by the international community.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a northwest region in Azerbaijan, was populated
mostly by ethnic Armenians. A Russian-brokered ceasefire halted the
fighting in 1994, but the dispute remains unresolved.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev, and delegates from over 20 states, such as Polish President
Lech Kaczynski, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, Czech Foreign
Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and representatives of the U.S. Department
of State and Japan, attended the summit held in the Caucasus country.
The summit "will assess cooperation between GUAM member countries
and outline cooperation priorities for the next year," GUAM Secretary
General Valery Chechelashvili said.
Formed in 1997, GUAM was aimed at promoting economic, trade, transport,
security and other cooperation among member states.