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.

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