GUAM AND THE EURASEC: AIN GOALS AND PROSPECTS
Abstract
The GUAM integration organization was created in November 1997 when the foreign ministers of four countries—Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova—signed a Protocol declaring the creation of this new structure.
Uzbekistan officially joined this organization in April 1999. But in 2002, it suspended its participation in this organization. At the beginning of May 2005, Uzbekistan made a decision to withdraw from this regional organization. According to many experts, Tashkent was cautioned by the initiative put forward at the GUUAM summit held in Chisinau in 2005 to create a Black Sea-Baltic arc of democracy and stability.1 It is obvious that Karimov’s support of Yushchenko and Saakashvili might have given a new boost to the activity of the Uzbek opposition. In addition, GUUAM was initially proAmerican and anti-Russian in orientation. While Uzbekistan’s policy focused more on intensifying political and economic cooperation with the Russian Federation, which to a certain extent was related to the events in Andijan. So the Uzbek president’s decision to withdraw the republic from GUUAM was understandable. Since then, the organization has received its old name— GUAM.
When this integration group was created, great importance, in addition to geopolitical considerations, was given to the oil factor and communication integration. In particular, cooperation focuses on drawing up and implementing the TRACECA global European-Caucasian-Asian transport-communication project, on the basis of which it is hoped to integrate the Central Asian and South Caucasian states into the global economic system and reduce energy dependence on Russia.
The establishment and efficient use of oil transportation routes via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Odessa-Brody pipelines and transit freight delivery along the port Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan)- Caspian Sea-Baku-Georgian ports-Black Sea-Rumanian and Bulgarian ports corridor form the fulcrum of cooperation within GUAM.
In order to implement the former project, the sides worked to create a corresponding regulatory legal base that determined the conditions for transporting Kazakh oil from Aktau to Baku and on via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, as well as via other export routes that begin in Azerbaijan. As we know, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline went into operation in May 2006.
As for the latter project, many experts do not believe it is very efficient.
Downloads
References
See: O. Sidorov, “GUAM-2005: patsient skoree miortv, chem zhiv,” available at [http://www.gazeta.kz/
art.asp?aid=63363/].
See: G.G. Rakhmatulina, Dinamika razvitiia integratsionnykh protsessov v gosudarstvakh SNG i perspektivy
formirovaniia Edinogo ekonomicheskogo prostranstva, ed. by M.S. Ashimbaev. Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Studies
under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, 2004, p. 119.
R. Otinashvili, “Gosudarstvennaia strategiia ekonomicheskoi bezopasnosti,” Bulletin No. 73, Center of Strategic
Research and Development of Georgia, August 2002; T. Chikvaidze, “Intellektual’naia modernizatsiia: Obiazatelnoe uslovie makroekonomicheskoi bezopasnosti Gruzii,” Ekonomika, No. 3, 2004.
O. Sidorov, op. cit.
Pervyy ekonomicheskiy forum Evraziyskogo ekonomicheskogo soobshchestva, Moscow, 2003, pp. 8-9.
R. Otinashvili, op. cit.
T. Mansurov, “EurAsEC: novyy etap integratsii,” available at [http://www.eurasianhome.org/xml/t/
expert.xml?lang=ru&nic=expert&pid=1410].Gulnur RAKHMATULLINA
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2008 Author
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
