Yushchenko urges colleagues to join GUAM

Victor Yushchenko urged leaders ofCaspian, Black Sea and Baltic regions to join the GUAM to implement joint projects, the President's press office reported.

“I would like to ask my colleagues, presidents from that region, to consider their direct or associated membership in the GUAM to mobilize our efforts to implement vital economic projects,” Yushchenko said at a forum of the Community for Democratic Choice.

The Head of State stressed that the GUAM should work in two main directions to “search for partners that consolidate GUAM members.” He spelled out that we should first of all implement transportation and transit projects.The GUAM can also help settle conflicts in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Trans-dniester.

Speaking about the Trans-dniester conflict, Yushchenko reiterated that Ukraine firmly believed we should preserve “integrity of borders of the Republic of Moldova.” He said monitoring of the Ukraine-Moldova border in Trans-dniester, which had recently started, was important to achieve this goal.

The President also said we should involve the United States and the European Union in negotiating ways to settle the Trans-dniester conflict. He opined that this would “help to ensure stability and prosperity of the whole region.”