GUUAM NEWS
Embassies of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan – Washington, D.C.- January 12, 2001
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Azerbaijan: *President Heydar Aliyev hosted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Baku on January 9-10, 2001. This was the first visit by Russia's President to Azerbaijan since both countries restored their independence from the USSR in 1991. The two Presidents signed the Baku Declaration on bilateral relations, Declaration on Principles of Cooperation in the Caspian Sea, a package of economic agreements, and witnessed signing of a $250 million onshore oil deal. President Putin also addressed the Azerbaijani Parliament, the Milli Mejlis, met with representatives of the Russian community and laid a wreath at the Alley of Martyrs, where the victims of the massacre of civilians in Baku by the Soviet Army on January 20, 1990 were laid to rest. *On January 8, Defense Minister Safar Abiyev ordered that Azerbaijani servicemen, who are participating in the Kosovo peace-keeping operation, undergo medical examination because of possible exposure to radiation while performing their duties. Georgia: *On January 10, in Brussels, Belgium, Georgia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Giga Burduli held meetings at NATO headquarters. He discussed the process of implementation of the Accord on Adapted CFE Treaty reached at the November 17, 1999 OSCE Summit in Istanbul concerning the withdrawal of Russian Military equipment from the Georgian territory.
Moldova : *Based on the Constitutional Court's ruling on the failure of the Moldovan Parliament to elect a new Head of State, President Petru Lucinschi signed a decree regarding the dissolution of the Legislature on January 12, 2001. Early parliamentary elections were called for February 25. According to the Constitution, the new Parliament will have to elect the country's next President with at least 3/5 majority of votes. |
Moldova (continued): *On December 15, 2000 the IMF Board of Directors approved a three-year U$ 142 million loan under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility to support the Moldovan Government's reform program, thus resuming crediting Moldova after a 13 month suspension. On December 19, 2000 the World Bank also approved a US$ 20 million tranche of the Structural Adjustment Credit.
*On December 30, 2000 the President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma adopted a decree “On Ensuring Measures for the Preparation and Implementation of the Kyiv Summit of GUUAM heads of states.” The Ukranian Government is establishing a special organizing committee in order to address issues related to preparations for and holding of the Kyiv Summit, scheduled for March 6-7, 2001. President Kuchma appointed the First Deputy Prime Minister Yurii Yehanurov as the head of the GUUAM Summit commitee.
Uzbekistan: *Presidents Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan and Emomali Rahmonov of Tajikistan signed four documents following the Central Asian Economic Community [CAEC] Summit, in Almaty on January 6, 2001. They agreed to hold a CAEC economic forum in Tashkent, which was initiated by the Uzbek side, and signed a document on the UNESCO – declared the International Year of Mountains in the Central Asian countries in 2002. *A NATO Joint Command delegation led by General Tamer Akbash, NATO Commander, South-Eastern Europe, visited Uzbekistan on December 30-January 1, 2001. The delegation discussed military and technical cooperation between NATO and Uzbekistan, and exchange of military information with Defense Minister Kadyr Gulyamov and Secretary of National Security Council Mirakbar Rakhmankulov.
GUUAM NEWS is published monthly by Embassies of GUUAM countries - Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Moldova – in Washington, D.C. www.guuam.org |