Date & time: Thursday, 21 September 2023, 13:00-14:30 New York time (GMT - 4 hours)
Venue: New York City, NY, United States of America
Format: offline (in person)
Host: CICA Chairmanship of Kazakhstan and CICA Secretariat
Participants: CICA Member States only, format 1+1
Objective: Discussion of key issues on the current CICA agenda and adoption of decisions/documents
Working languages: English and Russian
Contact person at the CICA Secretariat: For any queries or information, kindly contact Ms. Akmaral Kinzhebayeva, Senior Officer of the CICA Secretariat, at +7 (705) 423-81-00, or via email at a.kinzhebayeva@s-cica.org
Pre-event press release
on informal MC meeting in New York on 21 September 2023
“CICA Ministerial Council to endorse road map for transformation
of the pan-Asian organization”
An informal meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) will be held in New York on 21 September 2023 on the sidelines of the High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly session. The meeting will be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Murat Nurtleu, as Kazakhstan holds the current Chairmanship in CICA since 2020. CICA Secretary General Ambassador Kairat Sarybay will report on current CICA activities.
The CICA Ministerial Council is expected to endorse the Road Map for CICA Transformation outlining eight specific areas of reforms aimed at strengthening this pan-Asian organization of 28 Member States and adapting CICA to a new global role of Asia. The gradual transformation process was launched by the decision of the Sixth CICA Summit in Astana in October 2022, the year of the 30th anniversary of the initiative to convene this organization put forward by Kazakhstan at the UN in 1992.
The road map will serve as a structured agenda and guiding document for the transformation process with an open-ended and non-exhaustive list of areas for discussion and decision-making, such as elaborating a charter of the organization, exploring new areas of cooperation within CICA, budget reform and human resources management reform, and other themes.
The ministers will also adopt the Statement on Promoting Volunteerism for Sustainable Development, reflecting strong political impulse to a brand new direction for CICA activities to support and promote active engagement of citizens in volunteering, especially among the youth.
It is expected that members of the Ministerial Council will exchange views on the prospects for further institutional development of CICA, elaborate on the first practical steps on the path of CICA transformation, as well as discuss other important issues on CICA’s current agenda.
* The Ministerial Council is the second highest governing body of CICA after the Summit, responsible for the implementation of Summit decisions, considering current CICA activities and all issues submitted to it by the CICA Senior Officials Committee, carrying out high-level consultations and taking decisions on key issues on CICA agenda.
