Meetings of the Special Working Group (SWG) and the Senior Officials Committee (SOC) of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) were held in the format of a videoconference, Delovoy Kazakhstan reports.
SOC Chairman – Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Adil Tursunov noted that the main political outcome of Kazakhstan's Chairmanship in the CICA in 2020-2022 was the 6th Summit of the Conference successfully held in October 2022 in Astana.
Deputy Minister Tursunov stressed that a number of important documents were adopted at the Summit, in particular the Astana Statement on CICA Transformation, which launched the structured and inclusive negotiations process of gradual transformation of the Conference into a full-fledged international organization. During the 6th Summit, Kuwait received the status of the 28th CICA Member State, and the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) became the 6th CICA partner organization after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding.
The Member States were also informed about the vision of Kazakhstan's Chairmanship of CICA activities in 2022-2024. In particular, it was noted that Kazakhstan's efforts would be aimed at implementing the initiatives of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on further institutionalization of the Forum, promoting the gradual transformation of the CICA, updating the regulatory framework of the CICA, expanding external relations, etc.
The Secretary General of the CICA Kairat Sarybay spoke about the activities of the Secretariat, the implementation of the CICA confidence building measures in five dimensions, and informed about the planned activities in 2023.
The SOC approved the concept papers in the priority areas of "Tourism" and "Agriculture", the Action Plan on implementation of confidence building measures under priority areas of CICA dimensions and the Calendar of CICA events for 2023, the budget of the CICA Secretariat for 2023 and its staff matrix.
