GUUAM is a regional agreement between five CIS states: Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova. The grouping was created as a way of countering the influence of Russia in the area, and it has received backing and encouragement from the United States. Though at one point it was generally considered to have stagnated, recent developments has caused speculation on the possible revival of the organization.

History

Cooperation between Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova started with the GUAM consultative forum, established on October 10, 1997, in Strasbourg and named after the initial letters of each of those countries. In 1999, Uzbekistan also joined, changing the name of the grouping to GUUAM.

The grouping was generally considered to have stagnated: Among other things, the 2004 meeting in Yalta was only attended by two of the five leader while the GUUAM official website (see below) still shows the old Georgian flag. However the recent series of "color revolutions" in Georgia and Ukraine, as well as a perceived pro-Western and anti-Russian shift in the political agenda of the Moldovan governing party, followed by increased cooperation and coordination between these three countries, has led many to speculate about the possible revival of GUUAM. [1]

Organizational structure

GUUAM is organized as follows:

• An annual meeting occurs between the Presidents of GUUAM member states in Yalta. This is considered the supreme body of the organization.
• The executive body is the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the GUUAM states.
• The working body is the Committee of National Coordinators (CNC) consisting of one coordinator from each GUUAM member state.
• The Information Office of the GUUAM is in Kyiv
• There are eight working groups, for the following topics: power engineering; transport; trade and economics; information science and telecommunications; culture; science and education; tourism; the struggle against terrorism, organized crime and dissemination of drugs.

Issues

One of the issues associated with GUUAM is competition between two proposed transporation corridors to better link Europe with Asia. Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran have already been through rounds of negotiation on their plan, the North-South Transporation Corridor ; neighbouring countries (with the understandable exception of Armenia) have expressed enthusiasm as well. This corridor would travel along the border between Russia and the Baltic states of the European Union, then continue south through Ukraine, The USA would prefer the critical transportation corridor bypass both Russia and Iran. The plan proposed to GUUAM by the United States crosses both the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

External links

• http://www.guuam.org.ua/cgi-bin/valmenu_guuam.sh?1p02.html
• Official Website
• GUUAM page at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan