GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development has Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldavia as its members. All those countries are former republics of the Soviet Union situated in south Caucasus and southwest of Russia.

Subsequent to Uzbekistan’s accession to the organization in 1999, it was renamed GUAM-2. After a short while and following so-called “velvet” revolutions in some former republics of the Soviet Union in 2005, Uzbekistan broke off and the organization’s former name was restored.

The first summit meeting of GUAM was held in Kiev in May 2006, which was important in increasing interactions among members. Since that time, Russia has been taking a negative approach to the organization believing its main goal to be opposing Russia’s policies.

GUAM is currently active in such fields as international terrorism, separatism, extremism, and transnational organized crime, which are considered by GUAM heads of state as the main obstacles on the way of democratization.

The organization is currently playing an important role in expanding economic and political interplay between member countries and western states and is of political importance to the Islamic Republic of Iran. This policy paper discusses various aspects of the organization and its regional clout.