On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly`s 63rd session, the 14th meeting of GUAM Council of Foreign Ministers-United States was held in New-York. The meeting adopted a joint statement.

It says participants of the meeting reiterated consistent and sustainable character of GUAM-United States political dialogue.

During the meeting the sides exchanged views on the situation in the region, joint efforts within the 63rd Session`s Agenda Item 13 entitled “Protracted conflicts in GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development.”

They expressed their confidence that the international community would intensify efforts on the settlement of the protracted conflicts in the GUAM area on the basis of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of Member States, as well as other basic principles of international law.

They also assessed their cooperation following the GUAM-United States meeting in Batumi July 1, 2008 within the 3rd GUAM Summit and agreed to continue implementation of joint projects they agreed upon for 2008-2009 in the fields of combating trade in human beings and illegal migration, illicit drug trafficking, and modernization of national segments of the GUAM Interstate Information Management System.

The participants agreed to continue cooperation within the GUAM-USA Program on Facilitation of Trade and Transportation, Securing Border and Customs Control and Combating Terrorism, Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking, new projects on border cooperation to assist GUAM Member States` Border Guard Services to provide security of the GUAM Transport Corridor.

GUAM highly appreciated the technical assistance of the US provided to the Organization, including its Secretariat.

The statement says the sides agreed to hold the next GUAM-United States meeting in the beginning of December in Helsinki within the framework of the OSCE Ministerial Council.