VZCZCXRO1360
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHKV #1324/01 1511317
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 311317Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY KYIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2518
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 001324 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/30/2017 
TAGS: PREL KDEM MARR RS AZ GG MD UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: GUAM AS A REGIONAL ORGANIZATION -- A TWO 
YEAR PROCESS 
 
REF: KYIV 756 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Kent Logsdon for reasons 1.4(b,d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  Executive Director of the GUAM Information 
Office Heorhiy Nazarov acknowledged that the impasse over 
scheduling early parliamentary elections had made it unlikely 
that the parliament (Rada) would vote on the GUAM Charter 
anytime soon.  He said Ukraine's failure to ratify the GUAM 
charter would not affect ongoing efforts to establish the 
GUAM Secretariat in Kyiv or the June 18-19 GUAM Summit. 
Incoming GUAM Secretary General Chechelashvili would take up 
his duties in Kyiv in early June and could be accredited in 
Ukraine simply by presenting a diplomatic note from Georgia 
to the MFA Protocol Department.  Although the permanent 
Secretariat premises would not be ready until the end of 
 
SIPDIS 
2007, Chechelashvili's presence in Ukraine would speed the 
process of setting up the Secretariat and transforming GUAM 
into a regional organization.  The Secretariat should be 
operational in September.  Nazarov was noncommittal when we 
asked whether discussions about our future GUAM assistance 
projects should be conducted through the Secretariat or 
through the working groups, and noted that Azerbaijan is 
particularly reluctant to change.  Nevertheless, Nazarov 
expects GUAM evolution towards a full-fledged operational 
regional organization to continue under Azerbaijan's 
presidency, but the process will most likely only be 
finalized once the Georgians take over the presidency in 
¶2008.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) We met with the Executive Director of the GUAM 
Information Office Heorhiy Nazarov and MFA Political 
Department GUAM desk officer Victor Ponomariov May 18 to 
discuss how the Ukrainian domestic political situation was 
affecting plans to establish the GUAM Secretariat in Kyiv and 
the June 18 GUAM Summit in Baku.  We also wanted to determine 
if upcoming discussions regarding GUAM-related assistance 
projects should be conducted through the Secretariat or 
continue to be coordinated through the GUAM Working Groups, 
i.e., to what degree GUAM remains an association of countries 
versus a regional organization. 
 
Lack of Charter Ratification Will Not Affect Secretariat 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶3. (C) Nazarov said that the Rada's failure to approve the 
GUAM Charter would not affect plans to set up the Secretariat 
in Kyiv or plans for the GUAM Summit in Baku.  He said the 
Charter was issued as a presidential decree and has legal 
force unless it is rejected by the Rada.  Nazarov dismissed 
suggestions that the Summit be postponed because of charter 
ratification problems as "political speculation" and pointed 
out that it would take one or two months to "formalize" the 
Charter after the Rada passes it.  Nazarov also said the text 
on GUAM Privileges and Immunities had been finalized and 
approved by 11 "central bodies of authority" that need to 
sign-off on the document, although the Ministries of Finance, 
Treasury, Communication, and Justice, and the State Customs 
Services still needed to endorse the agreement.  Nazarov 
hinted that the hesitation was related to the current 
political struggle but was confident that they would sign 
soon.  He also opined that since "the legal regime is not so 
restrictive" the Privileges and Immunities document could be 
signed at the Summit regardless of the actions of the three 
ministries and the Customs Services. 
 
GUAM SecGen Arriving by Early June, Summit On Track 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶4. (C) Nazarov said incoming GUAM Secretary General Valery 
Chechelashvili was expected to take up his duties in Kyiv in 
early June - prior to the Baku Summit.  He opined that 
Chechelashvili's presence in Kyiv would help speed up the 
process of setting up the Secretariat and transforming GUAM 
into a regional organization.  Chechelashvili and Secretariat 
staff from Azerbaijan and Moldova could be accredited in 
Ukraine by presenting a diplomatic note from their respective 
governments to the MFA Protocol Department.  The Secretariat 
premises would not be remodeled and ready until the end of 
2007, however.  Nazarov was searching for temporary office 
space to house the Secretariat and expected it to start 
functioning by September after his formal transfer from MFA 
to GUAM and the arrival of an additional staff member from 
Azerbaijan.  Timing of the Moldovan staff member's arrival 
was still unclear.  (Note: Moldovan Embassy DCM Eugen Caras 
told us the Moldovan member of the GUAM secretariat would be 
a Moldovan diplomat currently assigned to the Moldovan 
Embassy in Ukraine.  The individual was likely to retain 
Embassy-related, i.e., bilateral Moldova-Ukraine, duties.  In 
an earlier conversation Chechelashvili told us that he is not 
in favor of this arrangement.) 
 
KYIV 00001324  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶5. (C) Nazarov said the preparations for the June 18-19 
Summit were proceeding smoothly.  Agreements on a budget of 
about $500,000, on Privileges and Immunities for Secretariat 
staff, and on joint cooperation in the field of nuclear and 
radiation security should be signed at the Summit.  Nazarov 
also expected a Summit accord on international multi-modal 
transportation of goods among GUAM states.  Minutes of the 
May 4-5 meeting of the Council of National Coordinators 
provided by Nazarov also indicate that a draft statement 
recognizing the 1932 - 1933 famine in Ukraine as an act of 
genocide and a protocol on cultural cooperation would also be 
agreed upon at the Summit. 
 
GUAM Transformation Might Take Two Years 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Nazarov was noncommittal when we asked him whether 
future discussions about U.S. assistance to GUAM should be 
conducted, as now, through the Working Groups in the relevant 
national capitals or through the Secretariat.  He said 
Ukraine and Georgia would like to conduct future negotiations 
through the Secretariat, but Azerbaijan is uncomfortable with 
the change, and Moldova is "on the fence."  Nazarov opined 
that this difference is indicative of the different levels of 
commitment among the four GUAM states.  We pointed out that 
by definition the U.S. assistance to GUAM was for the 
organization and not technically a four-way coordinated 
bilateral program.  We noted this would most likely be the 
view of both Japan and the EU, if the latter opted to engage 
the organization.  Therefore, it was important operationally 
and politically that GUAM establish an effective mechanism 
for discussing cooperation on assistance, let alone other 
issues.  Despite Azerbaijan's more limited vision of GUAM as 
a regional organization, Nazarov believed that under 
Azerbaijan's presidency the organization would continue to 
develop; but most likely GUAM would not take on the more 
robust character of a regional organization that Georgia and 
Ukraine hoped for until the 2008 Tblisi Summit and the 
completion of "road maps" with the U.S., Japan, and the EU. 
 
¶7. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website: 
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. 
Taylor