The meeting of the Senior Officials Committee (SOC) of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) was held on 15 June 2022 under the chairmanship of Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Adil Tursunov.
The SOC discussed draft documents under preparation for adoption by the Sixth CICA Summit in Nur-Sultan on 12-13 October 2022, including the draft of the main outcome document and other relevant decisions, and held the first ever review of the implementation of CICA confidence building measures (CBMs).
“Nur-Sultan Charter: Towards a New Asia in the New World” is meant to be the main outcome document of the Summit and would operationalize the launch of gradual transformation of CICA into a full-fledged international organization, what was earlier agreed by the SOC on 30 March 2022. The SOC Chair presented the purpose and main elements of the initial draft of the document, stressing its operational and institutional nature and strong political impetus to renewal of CICA expected from its adoption by the Summit.
The Kazakhstan CICA Chairmanship also introduced other draft documents in the pipeline, concerning the establishment of a CICA Fund, implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, security of and in the use of ICTs, and the CICA Chairmanship in 2022-2024.
At the initiative of the Chairmanship and the Secretariat, the SOC also held a thorough discussion of the implementation of CICA CBMs and events in the eight priority areas of the economic dimension - small and medium enterprises, agriculture, information technology, tourism, development of secure and effective systems of transportation corridors, energy security, finance, and trade and investment. This review was considered to be very timely in light of the recent update of a core CICA document – CICA Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures – by the Sixth CICA Ministerial Meeting on 11-12 October 2021 in Nur-Sultan.
The SOC also held lively exchange of views on the modalities of CBM implementation in all dimensions, proposing a number of improvements. CICA Executive Director Ambassador Kairat Sarybay introduced some innovative ideas of the Secretariat concerning the mechanism of coordinators and co-coordinators, the development of concept papers and action plans, and the CBM review mechanism. Based on the deliberations, the SOC tasked the Secretariat with making proposals for the Member States’ consideration. The SOC agreed to continue holding regular review of implementation of CBMs not less than once a year, with focus on specific dimensions, priority areas or CBMs.
At the meeting on 15 June, the SOC has approved Türkiye as a Co-coordinator in priority area “Trade and Investment”, the role which had been vacant since the adoption of the updated Catalogue of CBMs. Coordinating Member States play a special role in facilitating CICA activities in specific areas.
CICA Executive Director Ambassador Kairat Sarybay also reported on current CICA business, including CICA projects to mark the 30th anniversary of CICA in 2022, such as sakura seedlings planting, bicycle tour, cancellation of an anniversary postage stamp, publication of a CICA commemorative book, eco-tourist guidebook of the CICA region, as well as collection of fairy tales of the people of Asia.
