Georgia, Tbilisi / corr. Trend N.Kirskhalia / The support of the USA and European Union may be a guarantee of economic activity and effectiveness of economic relations within GUAM, said the outstanding Georgian economic expert, Giorgi Khukhashvily.
The Business Council of GUAM, which took place in Baku recently, sent an appeal to the Presidents, Parliaments and Governments of their countries on behalf of the entrepreneurship community of the GUAM participating countries. The appeal calls to intensively assist in implementing an agreement on the creation of free trade zones between GUAM member-countries, create favourable legal and economic conditions for the realization of business-projects, improve and harmonize national legislations, unify border and customs control, strengthen control to prevent access of falsified products to the internal market, ensure single tariffs for transport communications and apply a single system of indirect taxes for the export and import of commodities (works, services). The proposals also include establishing a working group under the GUAM Business Council to study future movements and realization of programs of multimodal transportation of cargos From-Door-To-Door. There are plans to hold the first meeting of the working group in Kiev in September.
"This appeal is a good tool to establish economic relations within GUAM and should be welcomed," Khukhashvily considers. According to him, such types of integration may provide an opportunity to regulate economic relations between GUAM participating countries.
"The principles specified in the appeal should lead to full economic integration of GUAM countries. They are standard requirements which should be fulfilled by GUAM countries. Implementing the requirements is key to the establishment of close economic relations," the Georgian expert considers.
Khukhashvily thinks that there are more prospects to achieve an economic approach of member-countries within GUAM than in the CIS. "It is linked to the fact that Russia cannot really influence GUAM through political or economic tools of pressure," he said.