Moscow, 11-12 February 2025 – The Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Ambassador Kairat Sarybay, visited Moscow to discuss CICA activities under the Azerbaijani Chairmanship in 2024-2026.
During his visit, Ambassador Sarybay was received by H.E. Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. Minister Lavrov reaffirmed Russia’s strong commitment to CICA and full support for its transformation into a pan-continental international organization, highlighting CICA’s broad and inclusive geography, comprehensive agenda and added value.
The discussions focused on key objectives and priorities in preparation for the 2026 CICA Summit in Baku, including elaboration of a CICA Charter which would strengthen CICA’s contribution to peace, security and development across the Eurasian continent.
Ambassador Sarybay also held in-depth consultations with Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko and Director of Asia-Pacific Cooperation Aleksei Ovchinnikov on key topics of the comprehensive CICA agenda. The discussions centered on the CICA Charter, further institutionalization of CICA, enhanced cooperation in the area of finance, sustainable transport connectivity and women’s empowerment, deliverables for the 2025 CICA Ministerial Council meeting and the 2026 CICA Summit, as well as strengthening the Secretariat’s operational capacity.
Productive exchange also took place between Ambassador Sarybay and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, focusing on the evolving geopolitical dynamics in West Asia and prospects for achieving lasting peace and stability in the region. The discussions also covered CICA’s potential to play a constructive mediation role.
Ambassador Sarybay also had a fruitful meeting with Mr. Zamir Kabulov, Special Representative of the President of Russia for Afghanistan. The interlocutors reviewed ongoing developments, challenges and opportunities in Afghanistan and the situation in South Asia in general. They also discussed CICA Fund project for Afghanistan which is being developed in collaboration with international partners.
The CICA Secretary General met with Nikita Bantsekin and Pavel Kondrashov, senior officials of the Russian Federal Corporation for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Development. They reaffirmed interest and commitment to continuing valuable contribution to the CICA Business Council activities, including through initiating concrete projects, developing an e-book on best practices of SME support in the CICA region, advancing women’s entrepreneurship and promoting other impactful initiatives.
Furthermore, the CICA Secretary General held a productive meeting with Egor Litvinenko, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs. They discussed the CICA Youth Council activities, operationalization of the CICA Partnership Network of Leading Universities and further advancing Russia’s initiative on volunteerism within CICA. The interlocutors also explored opportunities for collaboration in the environmental sphere, including the CICA Alley initiative, as well as in youth engagement in parliamentarism and entrepreneurship.
On the eve of his visit, Ambassador Sarybay contributed an opinion piece to Izvestia, a leading national newspaper in Russia. His expert commentary highlighted Russia’s continuous support and significant contribution to CICA, prospects of CICA’s transformation into a pan-continental international organization and priorities of the Azerbaijani CICA Chairmanship in 2024-2026.
Opinion piece of Secretary General K.Sarybay to Izvestia:
https://iz.ru/1836814/kairat-sarybai/doverie-cerez-dialog
