Free trade and security policy are GUUAM’s priorities

“Ukraine is now between two geopolitical and geoeconomic blocs: the EU and NATO, on the one hand, and the Eurasian Economic Community and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, on the other. What is your vision of GUUAM’s prospects and challenges in a new reality?”

“No doubt, the development of GUUAM depends, to a large extent, on the way the EU and NATO are being enlarged. What signals the EU’s interest in GUUAM is the fact that the latter received support from EU countries’ ambassadors and representatives of the World Bank, OSCE, the UN, TRASECA, and others at the latest session of GUUAM’s Committee of National Coordinators this past March in Baku. On the other hand, globalization plus expansion of trade and economic ties have clearly boosted organized crime, terrorism, human trafficking, and illegal migration. This is why GUUAM member states are actively working on establishing the Trade and Transportation Support Project (TTSP) and the Virtual Antiterrorist Center. The association made such concrete steps in this direction as holding the first session of TTSP’s executive committee at Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the participants coordinated their regional strategy and action plan, as well as drawing up a package of virtual center documents by a group of GUUAM experts in Baku.”

“Many experts still claim GUUAM is ineffective. They say this association, like other ones of its kind in the post-Soviet space, is going to decline. Did you count how many times the experts buried GUUAM?”

“I can agree that the birth of GUUAM came under scathing criticism from all sides: is this association really needed if such organizations as the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, TRASECA, and OSCE are functioning in the region, while a long range of issues is being addressed by bilateral agreements? As time went by, criticism subsided. The signing of the GUUAM Yalta Charter and a number of economic, legal, and humanitarian agreements signed in 2001 laid the institutional groundwork for GUUAM. The association’s political prestige notably increased as it received the status of a UN General Assembly observer and further developed cooperation with OSCE and the South-Eastern Europe Cooperation Initiative. We thus see that GUUAM is not a declaration of intent but a viable and internationally recognized association with proper mechanisms and a sound normative and legal basis. As to criticism, we only welcome it if it is constructive and helps us improve.”

“Two years ago GUUAM countries agreed to establish a free trade area. Was everything confined to reaching an understanding? Why has Moldova not yet ratified an agreement to this end?”

“As far as we know, Chisinau is working on this matter, and we expect Moldova to ratify the document in the nearest future. I would like to note that what distinguishes GUUAM is its orientation toward practical results. At the moment, implementation of the free trade area agreement is being dealt with by the GUUAM Economy and Trade Working Group. It is planned to discuss this year such points as mutual liberalization of trade and removal of barriers to a free movement of goods and services. This will be followed by the second stage, when things should be put into practice. It should be pointed out in this connection that trade turnover between the GUUAM member states has gone up in the past few years. Particularly, in 2003 trade increased by 195% with Georgia, 137% with Azerbaijan, and 163% with Moldova in comparison with 2002. I think this enables us to expect a further growth of trade turnover in the nearest future owing to a functioning GUUAM free trade area.”

“Many questions have been asked lately about the coexistence of such mechanisms of economic cooperation as the SES (Single Economic Space) and GUUAM. Ukraine is convinced that the SES and GUUAM do not contradict each other. Do our GUUAM partners share this view?”

“In our opinion, GUUAM is to organically complement the existing cooperation mechanisms in the region. Searching for new patterns of mutually advantageous cooperation to implement high-profile projects was and still is the essential reason why this association was formed. Besides, participation in GUUAM is in compliance with the member countries’ national priorities. This approach allows each of the GUUAM countries not only to toe the general line but also choose the field and vary the extent of its involvement in specific projects.

“I personally have heard no negative responses from our partners about Ukraine’s participation in the SES. GUUAM is a mechanism of regional cooperation. As we know, GUUAM addresses not only economic issues but also such things as combating international terrorism, organized crime, and slavery. If we have made certain deals within the GUUAM framework and taken certain pledges, we will be fulfilling them. We will work to tap the whole potential of our countries for the common good. We don’t have to copy anybody; all we have to do is work.”

“When in Kyiv, the president of Georgia noted that Russia began to treat GUUAM ‘more constructively and equably.’ What caused this? Moscow perhaps thinks that ‘the mission has been accomplished,’ Ukraine is in the SES, so there is nothing much to worry about...”

“I cannot say Russia has taken a pronounced negative stand. In any case, there are no statements to this effect at the official level. Cooperation within the framework of GUUAM is not aimed against any other country. On the contrary, we call on other states to cooperate with our association. This particularly applies to the neighboring countries. Besides, there is an institution of observers in GUUAM.”

“Has any of the GUUAM partners expressed a wish to join the SES?”

“The SES formation agreement, which Ukraine, as you know, signed with reservations, has a provision that other countries can also join the Single Economic Space. Incidentally, this does not exclusively apply to the post-Soviet countries. The SES is still in the making. A lot of work is still to be done to draw up a large number of documents that will regulate cooperation in specific sectors and address concrete problems. As far as I know, no other states have so far applied for SES membership.”