GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development

GUAM ( meanwhile GUUAM ) - Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - is a security alliance of the four countries of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova. The acronym is composed of the initial letters of the Member States.

History

The GUAM was founded on 10 October 1997 in Strasbourg ( France) during the summit of Europe as an informal association of GUAM. The GUAM, founded with the support of the USA, is to act as a counterweight to Russian influence in the region.

The alliance lost in the meantime important. Uzbekistan became a member in 1999, suspended its membership, joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and retired from there on 5 May 2005. Azerbaijan oriented increasingly to Turkey, Moldova, Russia. At the 2004 Summit in Yalta attended only two of the five heads of state.

After the change of power in Ukraine, the GUAM was revived. Ukraine and Georgia, they wanted to make a union of countries, seeking integration into the Euro -Atlantic structures. At the summit of GUAM on 22 April 2005 in Chisinau (Moldova ) therefore also attended the Presidents of Lithuania and Romania, Traian Băsescu and Valdas Adamkus, and OSCE Secretary General Jan Kubis. The participants of the meeting adopted a declaration on democracy from the Caspian to the Black Sea, which is concerned with the development of democracy, economy and security and stability in the member countries.

At the summit on 23 May 2006 in Kiev signed the four presidents of the Member States, Viktor Yushchenko, Mikheil Saakashvili, Ilham Əliyev and Vladimir Voronin, the Statute of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM. Thus, the informal association was transformed into a full-fledged international organization.

Secretary General of GUAM is the former Georgian Finance Minister Valery Tschetschelaschwili.

Current Full Members

• Azerbaijan
• Georgia Georgia
• Moldova Moldova
• Ukraine Ukraine