Azerbaijan takes over GUAM Presidency
Belgrade, Serbia (PRWEB UK) 4 January 2016 -- Azerbaijan has been selected for the presidency of the GUAM Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development. The decision was made on 3 December during a meeting of the GUAM Council of Foreign Affairs Ministers in Belgrade. Azerbaijan previously held the presidency from 2007–08, and the decision also sees H.E. Altay Afandiyev, former Azerbaijani Ambassador to Spain, appointed to the post of GUAM Secretary-General for the next four years.
GUAM – an acronym of member states Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova –was established in 2001 to promote democratic values, stable development, international and regional security and increase the speed of European integration for its members.
One of the main objectives specified in the GUAM charter is active co-operation in the settlement of the unresolved conflicts in GUAM states that undermine sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of those states.
This intention was reiterated in Belgrade, where the Council of National Coordinators (CNC) was instructed to finalise the text of the draft resolution Protracted conflicts in the GUAM area and their implications for international peace, security and development, with a view to submission to the UN General Assembly. This is particularly relevant to Azerbaijan, where Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding districts have remained under Armenian occupation for over 20 years, despite four UN Security Council Resolutions being passed against the occupying forces.
Neil Watson, The European Azerbaijan Society, http://www.teas.eu, +44 2078081918, [email protected]
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