The 13th session of the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly, an organization of democratic and economic development, took place

Information Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat
11 February 2021, 14:31

The session was attended by representatives of parliamentary delegations of all GUAM member states - Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova and invited guests - the President of the Baltic Assembly, the Secretary General of PABSEC and the Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries.
Elnur Allahverdiyev, Head of the Permanent Delegation of Azerbaijan to the GUAM PA, Georgy Helashvili, Head of the Permanent Delegation of Georgia to the GUAM PA, Alexander Zhyzdan, Head of the Permanent Delegation of Moldova to the GUAM PA, addressed the Assembly, Head of the Permanent Delegation of Ukraine to GUAM PA Sviatoslav Yurash and invited guests.
Participants outlined the problems that exist in all member countries of the organization: combating the effects of the pandemic, in particular, economic and humanitarian; resolution of regional conflicts, preservation of territorial integrity and independence of states.
Speakers stressed that the GUAM platform could become a platform for advancing the problem of territorial conflicts on the international agenda. According to parliamentarians, a reboot is needed, a new, constructive approach to covering and voicing this urgent problem. This will help prevent the escalation of existing conflicts, focus efforts on resolving them and prevent new wars from unfolding.
In addition, the participants stressed the need for close cooperation between countries in the fight against the pandemic, shared experiences in vaccination and developments in overcoming the effects of the pandemic.
At the same time, the participants stressed the importance of GUAM's priorities for strengthening political, sectoral, inter-parliamentary cooperation and for deepening ties between the countries.
In his speech, GUAM Secretary General Altai Efendiev stressed that one of the main goals of GUAM's further work is to create a free economic zone between the members of the organization and develop transport cooperation.
In addition, the Secretary General called on GUAM members to focus on cooperation and coordination with other international bodies, such as the OSCE, NATO, etc., and other countries, to promote GUAM on the world stage as a key tool for stability and security in the region and the important member of the parliamentarism regional system.
Representatives of international organizations - the Baltic Assembly, PABSEC and the PA of Turkic-speaking countries - in welcoming speeches expressed readiness to cooperate and strengthen ties between their organizations and GUAM, stressed the potential for joint solutions and development of new projects.
At the beginning of his speech, Sviatoslav Yurash, Head of the Permanent Delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the GUAM PA, thanked the Azerbaijani delegation for significant achievements during the presidency - in particular, uniting all GUAM members to restore the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the member states.
Sviatoslav Yurash stressed the importance of Ukraine's movement towards European integration, its membership in GUAM and in the various international structures and institutions. The Head of the Permanent Delegation reminded of the groups of GUAM+ countries, which include quite powerful countries of the world and cooperation with which is an important stage in the development of GUAM.
The Head of the Ukrainian delegation also focused on the security issue. He reminded that at the last parliamentary assembly in Kyiv the issue of establishing the Cyber Security Center was raised.
“We were able to provide our vision, a specific number of organizations that support us. The connection that has developed between our states is very important for those structures and institutions that are outside the group, and this creates a certain space for transportation and free exchange of products. It is necessary to involve organizations that are in some way connected with GUAM, which would like to work closely with GUAM, and security issues are very important for this,” the parliamentarian said.
During the meeting, the participants of the 13th session of the GUAM PA considered the following issues: “Cooperation of GUAM member states in the context of new global challenges: Countering the COVID-19 pandemic, its social and economic consequences; Status and prospects of conflict resolution on the territory of GUAM member states, new areas of cooperation”, “Development of inter-parliamentary cooperation, implementation of priorities of GUAM PA cooperation with the Baltic Assembly”, “Promotion of key GUAM economic projects, new directions of cooperation”.
In addition, on the eve of the session of the Parliamentary Assembly, the 15th meeting of the GUAM PA Bureau chaired by the Republic of Azerbaijan took place. A number of decisions were made at the meeting:
- on strengthening the work of the GUAM PA Committees, in order to increase their efficiency, relevance and capacity to fulfill their role;
- the composition of national delegations in the committees of the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly for 2021 was approved;
- the results of the GUAM observer mission in the parliamentary elections in Georgia were summed up;
- a decision was made to transfer the chairmanship to the GUAM PA for 2021 to Georgia, etc.
Following the results of the 13th session of the GUAM PA, the final Communique was adopted.