GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:37, 3 March 2024

Revision as of 19:47, 1 April 2024

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Conceived in 1997 to harmonize and integrate commercial, diplomatic and democratic relations among its member states, the GUAM treaty charter was signed in 2001 and today covers a population of over 57 million people. [[Uzbekistan]] was also a member of GUAM in the 1999–2005 period. In 2003, GUAM became an observer in the [[United Nations General Assembly|UN General Assembly]]. In 2007, GUAM also established a military [[peacekeeping]] force and organized joint military exercises. Such increasingly deepened integration and relationships led to GUAM playing an important role in the region's diplomatic and commercial affairs.

The agreement on a Free Trade Area was signed in 2002. In 2017, additional agreements on a [[free-trade area]] were announced, but as of 2022 reportedly the FTA has not been ratified and has not entered into force.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/guam-2-0-can-free-trade-revive-the-forgotten-regional-bloc/ | title=GUAM 2.0: Can Free Trade Revive the Forgotten Regional Bloc? | date=3 October 2022 }}</ref> The WTO was notified only in 2017 and the Agreement is designated as "Plurilateral" and "In Force". According to the WTO database, the GUAM FTA agreement was signed in 2002 and entered into force in 2003.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://rtais.wto.org/UI/PublicShowMemberRTAIDCard.aspx?rtaid=620 | title=WTO &#124; Regional trade agreements }}</ref> [[International Trade Centre]] says there is no free trade area in operation with distinct rules from an [[Commonwealth of Independent States Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area (1994)|Agreement on Creation of CIS Free Trade Area]], was signed on 15 April 1994 by 12 CIS countries.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.macmap.org/en/resources/cis | title=Market Access Map }}</ref>

The database of agreements of the International Trade Centre does not indicate that a GUAM FTA agreement has been concluded, but it does indicate that the 1994 Agreement on CIS FTA is in force for Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.macmap.org/en/query/trade-agreement?reporter=268&relation=I&partner=all | title=Market Access Map }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.macmap.org/en/query/trade-agreement?reporter=804&relation=I&partner=all | title=Market Access Map }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.macmap.org/en/query/trade-agreement?reporter=031&relation=I&partner=all | title=Market Access Map }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.macmap.org/en/query/trade-agreement?reporter=498&relation=I&partner=all | title=Market Access Map }}</ref> and the 1999 Agreement on CIS FTA version is listed as the current text of the FTA agreement. <ref>{{Cite web |title=full |url=https://findrulesoforigin.org/documents/pdf/itc00659_full.pdf {{bare URL PDF|date=March 2024}}</ref>

The official negotiating language of GUAM was Russian, but it was scrapped in favor of English in 2014.

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[[File:GUAM Summit 2006.jpg|left|thumb|200px|70-kopeck [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] postage stamp commemorating the GUAM Summit held in [[Kyiv]], 22&ndash;23 May 2006.]]

Cooperation between Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova started with the "GUAM consultative forum", established on 10 October 1997, in [[Strasbourg]] and named after the initial letters of each of those countries. In 1999, the organisation adopted the name '''GUUAM''' due to the membership of [[Uzbekistan]]. A summit in [[Yalta]] on 6 and 7 June 2001 was accompanied by the signing of GUUAM's charter, which formalized the organization. According to the former Ukrainian President [[Viktor Yushchenko]], the charter set objectives for cooperation, such as promoting democratic values, ensuring stable development, enhancing international and regional security, and stepping up [[European integration]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://today.az/news/politics/26446.html |title=Russian Deputy FM: "GUAM not anti-Russian group" |date=23 May 2006 |work=Today.az |access-date=18 April 2007 |archive-date=29 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929105003/http://today.az/news/politics/26446.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2002, Uzbekistan announced that it planned to withdraw from the organization and following this announcement started to ignore GUUAM summits and meetings.<ref>{{cite web|website=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]|date=18 June 2002|access-date=13 November 2020|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1100023.html|title=Uzbekistan: Tashkent Withdraws From GUUAM, Remaining Members Forge Ahead|archive-date=13 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201113180237/https://www.rferl.org/a/1100023.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In May 2005, shortly after the [[Andijan massacre]], Uzbekistan finally gave official notice of withdrawal from the organization to the Moldovan presidency, thus changing the group's name back to GUAM.