GUUAM

A USA-backed regional agreement whose member nations are Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova. Interest in the group has faded somewhat as other regional agreements have come to the fore, the 2004 meeting in Yalta was cancelled. One of the issues associated with GUUAM is competition between two proposed transporation corridors to better link Europe with Asia. Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran have already been through rounds of negotiation on their plan, the North-South Transporation Corridor ; neighbouring countries have expressed enthusiasm as well. This corridor would travel along the border between Russia and the Baltic states of the European Union, then continue south through Ukraine, The USA would prefer the critical transportation corridor bypass both Russia and Iran. The plan proposed to GUUAM by the United States crosses both the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea .