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Ukraine and Georgia Have Decided to Resurrect GUUAM
// Friendship of Nations
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili visited Kiev on Saturday. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has said that Saakashvili signed a declaration on the development of a strategic partnership. In addition, the two leaders agreed to hold a summit meeting of the GUUAM and announced the development of a joint settlement in Transdniester. Russia, of course, will not welcome the proposal.
Saakashvili made a fast trip to Ukraine. He adjusted his plans for the Georgian-Greek playoff in Tbilisi. Thus,. He convinced many Kievans that his love of sports is not just a pose. On Friday, those present in Mariinsky Park saw his jogging around the Supreme Rada building, with his bright red training suit contrasting sharply to the dark clothes of his body guards.
Talks between Saakashvili and Yushchenko proceeded in a warm and friendly atmosphere. The leaders did not begrudge one another praise. Saakshvili was awarded the Man of the Year 2004 prize in Kiev for his personal efforts to strengthen the centuries-old friendship between the two nations. This year was declared the Year of Georgia in Ukraine. Saakashvili acknowledged Yushchenko's leadership and said that Georgia looks on Ukraine as the region's economic, political and security leader and called Kiev the “locomotive of Eurointegration.”
A package of documents was signed after the meetings. They included the program for cooperation in youth policy and for cooperation between Odessa region and the Ajarian Autonomy. The security councils of the two countries signed a memorandum of mutual understanding. In addition, Kiev and Tbilisi signed a protocol on the readmission – hand over and acceptance – of persons illegally located in the other country.
But the declaration on the development of a strategic partnership is the main outcome of the visit. A summit meeting of the GUUAM, the members of which are Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova, is being planned for April 22 in Chisinau. That organization was founded at the end of the 1990s as a counterweight to the CIS. Russian was able to render the GUUAM ineffective then. Now Ukraine and Georgia are determined to revive it. They have even decided on a new agenda. A joint settlement plan for Transdniester will be introduced. They are obviously not making room there for Russia, which had been the key player in regulation attempts. Saakashvili made it clear that, if a settlement is reached in Transdniester, they will take on to other conflicts, Abkhazia in particular.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko announced at the end of Saakashvili's visit that she would make her first official visit to Georgia, which is not say, not to Russia. She added that she was delighted to accept Saakashvili's invitation because Georgia was a romantic destination for her.
At the end of Saakashvili's visit, the presidents also released a joint statement on events in Kyrgyzstan. “Ukraine and Georgia have been, since the beginning of the revolution, and will always be, on the side of the Kyrgyz people,” it reads in part. They called on the OBSE to take immediate preventative action against violence and bloodshed. They gave highest praise to the “bravery of the country's former president in not ordering the use of force against his own people in the early days of the uprising.”
Yury Svirko, Kiev
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 28, 2005
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