23 April 2026, Astana
Thank you, Mr. Vice-Minister (moderator)!
Distinguished Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen!
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to attend our side event. I am glad to see the CICA Member States attending the event both in-person and online, as well as our guests from IOFS and IFSA, and wish you all a very productive meeting!
Let me express my utmost gratitude to H.E. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan for convening such a milestone Summit and inviting CICA to be a part of it. I feel inspired by the forward-looking vision of the resilient and sustainable future of the region and beyond that Mr. President outlined yesterday in his keynote speech.
I am grateful to the Kazakh Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources and its task force headed by Vice-Minister Oshurbayev for providing the platform to for such a side event and supporting our shared efforts led by the Azerbaijani Chairmanship.
Your Excellency Mr. Babayev, thank you so much for joining us and sharing the Chairmanship’s vision of tackling environmental challenges in the CICA region. We are very much grateful to H.E. President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and his CICA Chairmanship team for the wise leadership, for steering the CICA process in this challenging time. I am confident that with Azerbaijan’s stewardship, CICA Member States will achieve groundbreaking outcomes at the Seventh CICA Summit in Baku this October.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Climate change is a systemic challenge affecting every aspect of our countries’ economies, societies, and security in a broader context. Across the CICA region, communities face its direct consequences: melting glaciers, water scarcity, land degradation, and increasing environmental stress.
These are not only environmental, but rather development, economic, and stability issues. And importantly — shared issues. Water, climate, and ecosystems do not recognize borders. Therefore, cooperation is not optional - it is indispensable.
CICA is well designed for this goal. Covering 90 percent of Asia and representing half of the global population, CICA is a unique platform providing its Member States, regardless of their size or backgrounds, with equal opportunities to exchange ideas, best practices and make decisions based on consensus. These core principles, along with voluntariness in implementing confidence building measures and inclusiveness, have made CICA a very flexible, non-politicized and one-of-a-kind pan-Asian organization with a comprehensive approach to security.
One of the pillars of security and development in a broader context is certainly the Environmental dimension. Within its framework, CICA Member States actively address various challenges through collaborative events (seminars, workshops, training sessions, etc.) focusing on three priority areas: Sustainable development, Environment protection and Natural disaster management. These areas are part of the Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures – CICA’s core document.
Since 2010, CICA Member States have organized around 30 CBM events under the Environmental Dimension. These collective actions have addressed a broad array of themes, such as water management; climate change adaptation and mitigation; biodiversity conservation; combating desertification; disaster resilience, risk reduction and ecosystem restoration; eco-city development, low-carbon strategies, mining safety, bio-circular-green (BCG) economy and circular green tourism.
On the global level, the successful COP29 presidency of Azerbaijan has given renewed momentum to our shared climate and environmental agenda. Building up on the legacy of COP28 hosted by the UAE - another CICA Member State, COP29 achieved a number of outcomes for climate action, including climate finance for developing countries, adaptation, and full operationalization of carbon markets and the Fund for responding to loss and damage, among others. This created a valuable opportunity for CICA to further align with global climate priorities.
Speaking of UNFCCC, we wish every success to Turkiye in its upcoming COP31 presidency kicking off in Antalya this November and are grateful for Ankara’s proactive approach within CICA’s Environmental dimension and broader CBMs framework.
The cornerstone of Member States’ environmental efforts was the first-ever CICA Ministerial Conference on Environmental Issues held on 28 August 2024 under the previous Kazakh Chairmanship, and some of you were engaged in it. This landmark event was initiated by H.E. President Tokayev at the Sixth CICA Summit in Astana in 2022. As you know, the Conference adopted a High-Level Statement, in which CICA Member States committed to environmental sustainability, including pledges for climate adaptation to tackle extreme weather, biodiversity conservation to protect ecosystems, sustainable water management to address scarcity and glacier melt, pollution control to protect health, and knowledge exchange to share best practices. These outcomes laid a solid foundation for further cooperation and highlighted the need for its enhancement.
In May 2025 in Dushanbe, Azerbaijan’s Chairmanship hosted a CICA side-event on Water Security & Climate Resilience on the sidelines of the International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation. It showcased innovative national strategies to address glacier retreat and water security challenges, from Türkiye’s water efficiency campaigns to China’s technological innovations and Mongolia’s reforestation efforts, while demonstrating unified commitment to addressing water security and sustainable development and potential for knowledge-sharing across Member States.
One of the most alarming trends is what’s increasingly described as a risk of “global water bankruptcy.” In this regard, President Tokayev’s proposal to establish an International Water Organization under the UN auspices is timely and highly relevant at the global level.
Later next month, Tajikistan will host the 4th High-Level International Conference on the international decade for action “Water for Sustainable Development, which is meant to culminate in the UN Water Conference in the UAE (co-hosted by Senegal) in December. It is with great pleasure and gratitude that I accepted the invitation of the Tajik side and plan to contribute to this conference.
We appreciate the leadership of these and other CICA Member States in promoting the cause of water management, as water systems across our region — from major river basins to groundwater reserves — are under unprecedented strain.
Another crucial UN-related event hosted by a CICA Member State is scheduled for this August, as Mongolia will host the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. It’s important to remember that one clear way to combat desertification is tree-planting, which is why President KHURELSUKH Ukhnaa initiated the “One Billion Trees” campaign in Mongolia and hosted the Sustainability Dialogue in Ulaanbaatar in June 2025 where I was privileged to speak. (May I congratulate the Mongolian colleagues with the successful state visit of your distinguished President to the CICA host country – Kazakhstan).
May I kindly remind distinguished Member States of the CICA Alley initiative, which was launched in the CICA host country – here, in Astana, and which found a new life outside of Kazakhstan – in Thailand earlier this February, for which I extend my gratitude.
Ladies and gentlemen!
Through side events like this or any meaningful contributions, CICA aims to amplify its environmental agenda, foster synergies with global partners and enhance Member States’ understanding of shared challenges and further chances. Serving as a natural bridge-builder, CICA is well-placed to transform shared challenges into opportunities for collective and sustainable action.
Thank you.
