*GUUAM Heads of States participated in the informal CIS Summit in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on August 1-2. Speaking at the Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was hosting the event, expressed his country’s support for economic cooperation among the GUUAM member-states.

*At the August 1-2 Sochi Summit, Presidents of Kazakhstan and Russia voiced their concern with the recent incident on the Caspian caused by the actions of Iran’s armed forces and condemned the threat of use of force.

While in Sochi, President Heydar Aliyev held consultations with his Kazakhstani counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev. Both presidents once again reiterated their countries’ common views on the Caspian issues and support for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export pipeline. Mr. Aliyev’s met privately with President Kocharian of Armenia to discuss the peace process between the two countries and reasserted Azerbaijan’s position on the need to reach a peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

*According to Azerbaijani media reports, Iranian military aircraft continued to violate Azerbaijan’s airspace following the July 23 incident.

*Georgia and the United States held a one day naval exercise "Phazisi-2001" on the Black Sea on August 8. An American ship "Typhoon" and six
Georgian ships practiced troop landings and other maneuvers near the ports of Poti and Kulevi. The exercise were led by US Navy SEAL instructors and involved about 250 servicemen.

* U.S. President George W. Bush expressed his agreement with Moldova’s foreign policy priorities. “Like you, I agree that the Republic of Moldova’s future is in Europe and in the Transatlantic Community,” said President Bush in his letter to Moldova’s President Vladimir Voronin. “The USA is ready to cooperate with the Moldovan Government, since it is implementing important democratic reforms, aimed at creating market economy reforms.” Mr. Bush also emphasized the US support for the withdrawal of the Russian Armed Forces from Transdniestria in accordance with the OSCE Istanbul Summit agreements.

*On July 12, Ukraine’s President, Leonid Kuchma, signed the Decree “On Measures to Improve the Investment Climate in Ukraine.”

Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh stated on August 8 that Ukraine's economic performance over the seven months of 2001 is the best in the CIS. According to Mr.Kinakh, Ukraine's industrial output grew by 17.9 % in comparison to 11.9% last year. He also described as encouraging the current trend of decreasing inflation, which was kept at 3.5 % in 2001. Speaking of agriculture, Mr.Kinakh said that about 32 million tons of grain have been harvested, which is 16 million tons more than last year's crop yield.

*Ukraine will celebrate the 10^th anniversary of independence on August 24, 2001.

*New Project on "Development of State Management and Cooperation on Reforming State Services" is being implemented in Uzbekistan, within the framework of EU’s TACIS Program. "The aim of our project is to help the Uzbek Government to provide effective services in the period of transition to multi-faceted market economy," said the project’s coordinator Zulfiya Tukhtakhodjayeva.

*The USAID- sponsored ZdravPlus Program, conducts management courses in healthcare for university professors from several regions of Uzbekistan aimed at contributing to the health care reforms in the country.