ASTANA — Meetings of the Special Working Group and the Senior Officials Committee of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) chaired by Talgat Kaliyev, Ambassador-at-Large of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, took place on Dec. 3-4 in the Kazakh capital.
The meeting participants exchanged opinions on the draft Charter of the organization developed by the Kazakh chairmanship, discussed draft documents to be submitted for consideration by the CICA Council of Foreign Ministers, took a note of the report by Secretary General Kairat Sarybay on the outcomes of the Secretariat’s activities this year, and considered the topic of coordinators and co-coordinators of the priority areas of the CICA dimensions.
Following the sessions, CICA senior officials approved the Action Plan for the Implementation of Confidence-Building Measures and the Secretariat’s budget for 2025, as well as authorized the Secretariat to continue strengthening external relations with organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism.
The event participants also considered applications from third countries for CICA observer status.