NUR-SULTAN – Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Shakhrat Nuryshev briefed the diplomatic missions of member states and observers of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Nur-Sultan on Oct. 23, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service reported.
During the meeting. Photo credit: Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service
Nuryshev explained Kazakhstan’s priorities in the CICA during the meeting. Kazakhstan was elected as the organization’s chair in September, assuming the role from Tajikistan, and will serve in that role for two years.
The CICA is an intergovernmental forum aimed at strengthening regional cooperation and ensuring peace, security, and stability in Asia.
The idea of creating the organization was first voiced by Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1992 at the 47th session of the United Nations General Assembly, while the first CICA summit was held in June of 2002.
CICA members now include 27 Asian countries, including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Russia, South Korea, and Turkey, eight observer countries, and five international organizations.
The organization’s expansion, said Nuryshev, testifies to an urgency and demand for the organization’s ideals and role in the current geopolitical reality.
Nuryshev stated that as the organization’s chair, Kazakhstan intends to promote an open and constructive dialogue within the CICA to build trust and confidence between the countries, and join efforts in the search for effective solutions to current global problems.
Kazakhstan will continue to work on further institutionalization as one of its priorities, including facilitating expert support for the organization, strengthening its think tanks by transforming them into a permanent expert platform, and creating a council of sages that will generate proposals for the organization.
Nuryshev also said that his country seeks to boost cooperation among the member states in epidemiological safety, public health, and digitization of the economy and to facilitate cooperation with other regional organisations and forums to tackle commonl challenges and threats.
