YALTA SUMMIT GUUAM
Official delegation of Azerbaijan headed by Prime Minister Artur Rasizadeh came to Sevastopol on July 3 to participate at the Summit of GUUAM member-states. The same day, an informal meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of GUUAM states, where Azerbaijan was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Vilayat Guliyev, was held in Vorontsov Palace in Yalta. Following was the meeting GUUAM-USA. The United States was represented by US Assistant Under-Secretary of State Stiven Pifer and US Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascal.Then, the session of GUUAM Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs with participation of the US representatives as well as the guests from 17 world countries and 6 authoritative international organizations was held. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Vilayat Guliyev spoke at the session. He noted that in 3 of 5 GUUAM countries the conflicts are not settled yet and proposed his counterparts to address the UN Secretary General, UN SC Chairman, OSCE Acting Chairman and heads of other large international organization with joint statement of 5 GUUAM countries on inadmissibility of further retardation of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgian-Abkhaz and Dnestr conflicts. Without restoration of sovereignty and territorial integrity, without settlement of the conflicts, peace, order, economic progress, free realization of the Great Silk Road Project can not be reached, foreign minister of Azerbaijan stressed.Following was the press conference where Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Georgia, US Assistant Under-Secretary of State Steven Pifer and other participants stressed their wish to continue fruitful cooperation. Meeting of the heads of national delegations of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan was held in the White Hall of Livadiyskiy Palace in Yalta. The Forum was opened by the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma. Acting Chair of GUUAM, President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze greeting the participants, spoke of the cooperation of member-states in strengthening peace and stability in the region and highly appreciated the contribution of the President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev in this field. It was decided at the Forum that Georgia would be the chair in GUUAM for another half a year. Prime Minster of Azerbaijan Artur Rasizadeh, speaking at the Summit, noted the necessity of further cooperation in the frameworks of GUUAM and in GUUAM-USA format, strengthening of fight against international terrorism and organized crime. After the Summit, several documents related to the fight against terrorism and organized crime, assistance in trade and transportation, prevention of emergencies, mutual assistance and cooperation in customs issues, education, protection of state borders, science and technique were signed. From the Azerbaijani side the documents were signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Vilayat Guliyev, Minister of Education Misir Mardanov, Head of Border Service Elchin Guliyev and President of National Academy of Sciences Mahmud Karimov. Joint statement GUUAM-USA was also adopted. News conference was held on the results of the conference. In the frameworks of the Forum, the meeting of the Head of Azerbaijani delegation with Mr. Stiven Pifer, where a number of issues of mutual interest were discussed, was held. The same day delegation of Azerbaijan returned home.
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