Azerbaijan, Baku, March 18 / Trend S. Agayeva /
GUAM contributes to the peaceful settlement of conflicts in the territory of its member states through a consolidated platform, GUAM Secretary General Valery Chechelashvili told media today.
"Unfortunately, three of the four GUAM member states suffer from territorial conflicts," he said during an international conference 'Strengthening cooperation in preventing terrorism'. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is one of those frozen territorial disputes."
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. - are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
He added that each of these conflicts has its own format. The process of their settlement is being carried out. However, GUAM has no direct participation in them.
"However we have a well-formed and consolidated position of member states as reflected in the presidents' joint statement of GUAM,' he said. "It is based on generally accepted international principles."
He stressed that GUAM continues working with the international community in the UN to attract more major partners and familiarise them with their position.
"We have good prospects in this regard," Chechelashvili said.
GUAM was established by the post-Soviet countries in 1997 during the EU presidential summit at Strasbourg. In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the organisation and left four years later. A decision was made to rename GUAM as an international organisation called 'Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM', at the body's first summit in Kiev in 2006.