Fourth plenary session:
International mechanisms and global security governance
Distinguished Chair,
Your Excellencies,
First of all, I would like to thank the host of the Forum for the excellent organization of the event, for the invitation to attend and the opportunity to speak in front of such a formidable audience. CICA's participation in the Forum has become a good tradition, and I am glad to be back in the great city of Beijing and this beautiful hall.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Asia is rapidly evolving into the main driver of international development of the 21st century, both in terms of its economic potential and political impact. With its ample human and natural resources and rich cultural diversity and heritage, the continent has had strong influence on global trends for millennia.
As new challenges to peace and security arise, it becomes increasingly clear that Asia, where the most dynamic political and economic changes are taking place, has a renewed and, in many ways, central role to play in the contemporary world order.
As the world’s largest region, Asia must and will inevitably become a strong commonwealth of nations, pursuing shared goals, solving its own internal problems, and contributing to universal peace, security and global progress.
Amidst geopolitical fracture and sweeping paradigm shift in security, the only possible approach to ensuring peace and stability, both regionally and globally, is multilateralism and inclusiveness.
In this context, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), with its widest geography in the Asian region and broad agenda, is the most suitable platform to consolidate the collective wisdom of all Asian nations towards peace, security and development, and to fully integrate them into the global security architecture and multilateral decision-making processes.
After the three-decade-long history of its evolution, today CICA unites
28 Member States covering over 90 percent of Asia’s territory.
The main objective of the CICA Member States is to build an architecture of security and cooperation in Asia based on the principles of the UN Charter and international law, transparency, openness, inclusiveness, and mutual trust, with decisions and actions taken solely based on consensus. Our Member States realize the importance of common, comprehensive, cooperative, sustainable, indivisible and equal security. They recognize the need for a dialogue on a regional security architecture that fosters an environment for peaceful co-existence of all States, whose citizens enjoy peace, freedom and prosperity.
Let me highlight at least one unique nature of CICA. While coming from various backgrounds, our Member States – large, medium or small – participate in CICA’s work on a truly equal footing. We have no blocs, there is and can be no pressure of the stronger ones on those who are weaker.
CICA is a flexible structure guided by such fundamental principles as inclusiveness, consensus, and voluntariness. Strict adherence to these principles allows them to interact effectively and elaborate solutions by focusing on what unites rather than divides them.
In this regard, the important initiatives of the People's Republic of China, such as the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, generally match the goals and values of CICA and pave the way for further multilateral cooperation.
CICA confidence building measures in the military-political dimension laid the foundation of our organization and remain a key area of our interaction. Under this dimension, CICA provides its Member States with mechanisms for exchanging information on arms control issues, holding consultations on unexpected and dangerous military incidents, monitoring military exercises and other forms of cooperation between the armed forces.
As the coordinator of the military-political dimension, the Republic of Kazakhstan holds a dedicated seminar every year. This year’s seminar will be held in Astana quite soon – on September 25-26.
Dear participants,
There is no doubt that the challenges we face are universal for all of us, for the entire region. Let me outline them here.
First, climate change. We share the need to provide an adequate response to this threat, which is especially relevant for Asia. The natural disasters, floods and droughts we have seen this decade have shown just how fragile our societies are in the face of wild nature.
In order to effectively address these challenges, we need to bolster our regional environmental governance structures. Only through joint efforts can we ensure that Asia becomes a model of environmental sustainability and stability.
The CICA Ministerial Conference on Environmental Issues, organised by Kazakhstan on 28 August 2024, adopted a high-level statement that reflects the Member States’ dedication to advancing collaboration, sharing best practices and addressing critical issues. The CICA Member States decided to strengthen water management through capacity building and technology exchange, tackle climate change in alignment with the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement and improve the quality of life by focusing on climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation and pollution control.
CICA also pursues synergy with other international organizations, such as the UN and its structures.
In April 2024, on the margins of the 80th session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), CICA hosted a side event focusing on leveraging digital innovation for sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region.
Furthermore, the incoming CICA Chairmanship, Azerbaijan, will host a momentous global event of this year – COP-29. On the margins of this landmark gathering, CICA intends to organize a side event aiming to explore innovative strategies for promoting environmental sustainability within transportation networks.
Second, the economic dimension remains the most developed and in demand in the CICA, confirming the thesis of nexus between security and development. It is a good reason that one of the first two permanent institutions established by CICA in 2014 was the Business Council, which includes representatives of SME business associations and government agencies of the Member States. This institution meets annually, convening the CICA Business Forum back-to-back to its meetings.
However, advanced economic development in Asia is hampered by the disruptions in global supply chains, the relative underdevelopment of transport networks and their low capacity, and the lack of infrastructure.
Asia faces an urgent need to overcome these shortcomings, part of which are due to the legacy of history, and to build efficient transit and transportation corridors. Convenient and accessible shipment routes are an essential factor of sustainable growth.
The coupling of Asian economies with other countries and regions through projects like China’s “Belt and Road” initiative, Russia’s Greater Eurasian Partnership concept, and other countries’ various proposals related to the new Silk Road, the East-West and North-South corridors are great examples of those efforts.
CICA seeks to promote such connectivity, including economic, technological, cultural and people-to-people ties.
At the Sixth CICA Summit in 2022, President Tokayev of Kazakhstan proposed to establish a CICA Council on Sustainable Connectivity. The goal of this initiative is to develop interconnected and efficient infrastructure and systems, including the integration of various types of transport, energy, trade and communication networks, to promote investment and tourism, to create conditions for providing access to markets, resources, technologies, to improve the efficiency of logistics, and to support social development through creating additional jobs.
Third, many countries of the world, especially the developing ones, suffer from inefficient and outdated financial architecture that limits opportunities for accelerated economic growth.
UN Secretary General António Guterres has called for the establishment of a "Bretton Woods 2.0" underpinned by a meaningful reform of global governance.
Most of these reforms are already discussed on multilateral platforms, including the United Nations itself, as well as the G20, certain international financial institutions, and, just last week, the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia.
CICA also seeks to contribute to these global efforts. The CICA Finance Summit had been initiated by the People’s Republic of China during its CICA Chairmanship in 2014-2018 and successfully held three times. These summits were attended by hundreds of representatives of relevant government agencies, financial institutions, as well as renowned experts and scholars from the CICA Member States. They gave a powerful impetus to financial exchanges and cooperation within CICA.
The proposal to transform the CICA Finance Summit into a permanent platform was made by President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in 2022. The institutionalization of the Finance Summit will contribute to economic recovery, sustainable and inclusive development, and foster favourable conditions for regional and sub-regional financial cooperation within CICA.
This initiative was discussed at an expert panel session within the annual Astana Finance Days earlier this month.
Forth, the tasks of economic, social and humanitarian development require greater cooperation in education, science and technology. Within the human dimension, the CICA Member States actively collaborate within the Youth Council - the very first permanent CICA institution established in 2014. The Think Tank Forum, another permanent CICA structure which unites the leading research institutes of the Member States, is designed to develop recommendations for governments on the most crucial and pressing issues.
At the CICA Summit of 2022, President of Kazakhstan also proposed to put together a Partnership Network of Leading Universities of the Member States. It will enable to exchange knowledge in innovative areas, such as IT and digital economy, nanotechnology and renewable energy sources. The Partnership Network may also cover other important areas in line with CICA dimensions, such as sustainable development, environmental protection, dialogue among civilizations, cultures and religions, biotechnology, public health, energy security, etc.
This Partnership Network is expected to be inaugurated at the Seventh CICA Ministerial Council meeting in Azerbaijan on 19 December 2024.
The implementation of this initiative is poised to enhance the CICA Member States’ cooperation in the human dimension, particularly in the areas of education and innovation, research and development (R&D), personnel training, as well as disseminating the Asian model of innovative education throughout the world.
Fifthly, the Sixth CICA Summit in Astana decided to establish the CICA Fund – a special mechanism for identifying CICA projects and mobilizing voluntary funding for their implementation.
On August 8, Kazakhstan’s CICA Chairmanship hosted the first meeting of the Fund’s Project Review Committee, which is entrusted to review and, based on consensus, approve the submitted project proposals, as well as to consider pledges of contribution. The sample project proposals discussed during the meeting were aimed at helping the farmers of Afghanistan.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have no doubt that all of abovementioned efforts will ultimately lead to greater peace, security and stability in the world’s largest region and beyond.
We live in an era of ever-changing risks and threats to global security. Home to 60 percent of the world's population, Asia is the most vulnerable continent in this context. These risks have various root causes and manifestations, and regardless of their origin, we have no choice but to collectively address all these security challenges through multilateral mechanisms.
It is my firm belief that the future of international security lies in multilateral diplomacy. Only by strengthening genuine multilateralism based onconsebsus and confidence building measures we can give an adequate response to the challenges of our time and demonstrate the transition from competition to cooperation.
I strongly believe that CICA will further contribute to consolidating the shared vision of Asian states and their connectivity.
Feichang ganxie! (“thank you very much” in Chinese)
Beijing, September 14, 2024
