The first meeting of the CICA Senior Officials Committee in 2023, chaired by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kanat Tumysh, was held on 19 April at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan in a video-conference format.
In his welcoming speech, the CICA Secretary General noted Kanat Tumysh's rich experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, including as CICA Deputy Executive Director.
The main item on the agenda was the consideration of the draft Road Map for CICA Transformation (RMT), proposed by the Kazakh Chairmanship and the Secretariat as requested by the Sixth CICA Summit. The SOC had substantial discussions on and generally welcomed the draft RMT as a basis for further work and decided to engage in more detailed discussion of its elements, including at the working and expert levels.
The SOC meeting held regular review of implementation of CICA confidence building measures (CBMs) with focus on the “New Challenges and Threats” dimension. Member States presented reports and shared their views on their experience in implementing CBMs. The participants concluded that further improvement of CBM implementation will be discussed within the CICA transformation process.
The SOC reviewed and approved the Concept Paper on Sustainable Development prepared by Thailand as coordinator of this priority area under the CICA Environmental Dimension, as well as the Annual Action Plan of the CICA Think Tank Forum aimed at promoting interaction and cooperation among research institutes and think tanks of the Member States.
The CICA Senior Officials also took note of the Financial Report of the CICA Secretariat for 2022, as well as the report of the external auditor on the financial and economic activities of the CICA Secretariat for 2020-2022, and commended the CICA Secretariat for the effective financial management and optimal use of funds to achieve CICA goals and objectives.
Furthermore, the Secretariat's activities to increase the CICA visibility and the concept paper of the Kazakh Chairmanship to plant a CICA Alley in the Member Stateswere presented at the meeting. The SOC supported this initiative on a voluntary basis.
Under other agenda items, the SOC welcomed the proposal by the Russian Federation to elaborate and adopt a statement of the CICA Ministerial Council on promoting volunteerism for sustainable development, took note of the Secretary General's proposals to operationalize the CICA Fund, and considered the status of ratification of the CICA Convention on the Privileges and Immunities.
The next SOC meeting is scheduled for August 2023.
The Senior Officials Committee is the primary decision-making body for the implementation of decisions and agreements of the Summit and the Ministerial Council. It takes decisions on key issues concerning the development of interaction within CICA, administrative and financial issues of the Secretariat’s activities, and all issues submitted to it by the Special Working Group.
