The regional organization GUAM uniting Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova intends to enhance its relations with Japan leaning on a likeness of interests in the fields of market economy and energy, the Secretary General of GUAM Valeriy Chechelashvili said to journalists in Tokyo on 5 December. Chechelashvili is visiting Japan as head of a delegation including the Deputy Foreign Ministers of GUAM member countries, ITAR-TASS reported.
According to Chechelashvili, the delegation is satisfied with the welcome it received in Japan. He said talks with the Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura which took place in the first part of the day were very useful. "The Japanese Foreign Minister showed a great interest in GUAM and in the situation on-going in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea regions. That encourages us and taking into consideration the interest Japan demonstrated we expect expansion of cooperation."
"The goals and tasks of GUAM and Japan lean to common ground and democratic values basically coincide, and there is a likeness in the approach to settlement of problems in the energy field."
According to a member of the delegation, the Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Veselovski, GUAM countries and Japan support preservation of energy resources, non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons and the peaceful settling of conflicts. Both Japan and GUAM are interested in diversification of energy transport routes.
One of the exact results of the delegation's 3-day visit was Japan's decision to organize workshops in the future for GUAM specialists in order to pass on experience of designing energy preserving technologies, Veselovski said. "For GUAM it is very important," he stressed.
The GUAM delegation arrived in Tokyo on 4 December at the invitation of Japan in order to develop the dialogue 'GUAM plus Japan'. The first meeting in this format for the first time took place in June of this year during the GUAM summit in Baku, the Japanese Foreign Ministry reported.