The energy potential of Azerbaijan can be an effective stimulus for economic upsurge in the whole world!

HEYDAR ALİYEV
AZ

The Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development (GUAM)

General Information

· GUAM was established on 10 October 1997 within the Summit held in Strasbourg, Council of Europe. The Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine are the founding and member states of GUAM. The organization’s headquarters is located in Kyiv.

· The first Summit of the organization, held in Yalta in 2001, played a significant role in shaping GUAM as an international structure and in its institutionalization. The main areas of GUAM’s activities include ensuring human rights and freedoms; safeguarding sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence, implementing democratic reforms, promoting regional economic development, jointly combating international terrorism, extremism, and aggressive separatism, enhancing efforts in the fields of economy, trade, and energy security, and fostering cooperation in transport.

· In 2006, during the Kyiv Summit, a declaration adopted by the Presidents of the member states transformed the entity into the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development-GUAM.

· The chairmanship of GUAM is exercised by member states on a rotational basis for a one-year term. Sectoral cooperation among member states is organized within the framework of working groups.

· Since 2016, the position of Secretary General of GUAM has been held by Altay Afandiyev (Azerbaijan).

· In 2002, the GUAM Working Group on Energy was established. Its fifth meeting was held in Baku on 20 December 2011.

· The Republic of Azerbaijan chaired GUAM in 2007, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2024. During its chairmanship, Azerbaijan contributed to strengthening cooperation in areas such as transport and logistics, digitalization of transport corridors and energy security.

· Possessing abundant energy resources, Azerbaijan actively engages within the GUAM framework to promote the delivery of energy resources to global markets through favorable and secure routes and maintains constructive cooperation with a number of countries in the energy sector.