BAKU GUAM SUMMIT: LOOKING FOR RELEVANCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000792

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/CARC, EUR/UMB, AND EUR/ACE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL AJ GG UP MD KZ TX
SUBJECT: BAKU GUAM SUMMIT: LOOKING FOR RELEVANCE

REF: A. BAKU 00287

B. STATE 83491

C. BAKU 00693

Classified By: Charge Donald Lu for reasons 1.4 (b, d).

Well-Attended Summit
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1. (SBU) The GOAJ hosted the second annual Summit of the
Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM on
June 18-19 in Baku. The summit included meetings of GUAM
members' heads of state, foreign ministers, national
coordinators, and several GUAM working groups. There were
also separate GUAM-U.S. and GUAM-Japan meetings. The summit
included representatives from several other countries,
including EUR DAS Kramer, Bulgarian Vice President Marin, an
Estonian Parliamentary member, a Japanese deputy Foreign
Minister, Latvian Economics Minister Strods, Lithuanian
President Adamkus, Polish President Kaczynski, and Romanian
President Basecu. (NOTE: Except for Japan, most if not all
of these countries were represented at the May 2006 GUAM
summit in Kyiv. MFA sources report that Turkmenistan and
Kazakhstan had also been invited. According to the GOAJ,
Ashgabat never replied, and while Astana indicated it would
send a delegation, it ultimately did not. END NOTE.)

GUAM as a Bridge
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2. (SBU) The GOAJ used the summit to highlight GUAM's role
as a geopolitical bridge between Europe and Asia.
Accordingly, the summit was dubbed "GUAM: Bringing Continents
Together." The capstone for the summit was the "Baku
Declaration," a document emphasizing GUAM's status as a
"full-fledged regional organization" that is a "natural
corridor linking Europe and Asia." The document affirms the
need to deepen cooperation among members in multiple spheres,
while reaching out to other interested states and
international organizations. The declaration also highlights
GUAM's "deep concern" with the "protracted conflicts" and the
need for "strengthening global energy security."

Plenary Highlights
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3. (SBU) The June 19 plenary session was valuable for
understanding the respective members' and observers'
positions. Despite the official GUAM position that GUAM is
not aimed at any country, several plenary speakers gave
thinly-veiled references to Russia's "energy blackmail" or
the need to protect their sovereignty after being dominated
by a larger state. Many of the European representatives
emphasized their willingness to play a "bridging" role for
GUAM members with the EU. Polish President Kaczynski
appeared to be given the position of honor among non-GUAM
member participants (he was the first non-member to be given
the floor after the member heads of state gave their
statements). Kaczynski's comments also appeared to be some
of the most supportive of the European representatives,
focusing on Poland's (1) interest in partnering with GUAM to
receive oil through the Brody-Odessa pipeline and (2) desire
to be a "loyal partner and ally," especially in GUAM's
relations with the EU. (NOTE: Per ref A, Poland has sought
to deepen its outreach to Azerbaijan in the past months. END
NOTE.) Several other speakers--including President
Aliyev--focused on the importance of energy and energy
security for GUAM.

Results of U.S.-GUAM Meeting Limited
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4. (SBU) Unfortunately, there was little substance to the
U.S.-GUAM bilateral meeting. While the GOAJ was grateful for
DAS Kramer's presence and the Secretary's letter, the meeting
was spent haggling over the details of the joint statement,
which the Azerbaijani MFA had failed to coordinate until
minutes before the meeting. The GUAM Foreign Ministers

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effectively "tag-teamed" the document in a coordinated
effort, each pushing for a different aspect. Drawing on ref
B, DAS Kramer stressed the importance of empowering GUAM's
new Secretariat and Secretary-General, as well as the
importance of fully realizing existing projects such as the
Virtual Law Enforcement Center (VLEC) before taking on new
ones.

Comment
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5. (C) This Summit ended with GUAM as a self-described
"full-fledged" regional organization. GUAM's first
Secretary-General, Valery Chechelashvili is

SIPDIS
departing--imminently if not already--for Kyiv, empowered to
discuss GUAM programs with other countries on behalf of the
member states. We are eager to see how the GOAJ will handle
its yearlong GUAM presidency. Per ref C, the key MFA office
director responsible for GUAM told us Azerbaijan wants to
assess the efficacy of GUAM's VLEC and explore new means to
facilitate trade and transportation among GUAM members.
Azerbaijan certainly has resources it could devote to
increasing the level of activity of the organization. The
question is whether Azerbaijan will show the leadership.
While establishing the secretariat was a promising and
necessary step, the organization still needs to follow
through with concrete actions in order to become more than
just a talk shop.


6. (U) DAS Kramer was unable to clear this cable prior to
departure.
LU