Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 September / Trend corr. S.Agayeva / "The Organization for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM) is alive, functions and has great potential," Boris Klimchuk, Ukrainian Ambassador in Azerbaijan, said to journalists.
" GUAM is established to confirm our interests in the energy sphere and others," Klimchuk said. The Ukrainian Ambassador rejected the information of weakening of GUAM after the recent developments in Georgia.
At the night of 8 August, large-scale military operations were launched in the self-declared South Ossetia republic. The Georgian troops entered Tskhinvali. Later the Russian troops entered the city and drove the Georgian forces back to the Georgian territory.
On 12 August, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that he has decided to end operations to compel Georgia to peace.
Four post-Soviet republics; Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, established the GUAM format in 1997 during a summit of presidents of European Union countries in Strasburg. In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the organization but left four years later. In 2006, at the first summit of the organization in Kiev a decision was made to announce GUAM as an international organization with a new name; Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM
