23 February 2025 — Astana — The Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) successfully hosted its third annual ski tour, bringing together ambassadors and representatives of diplomatic missions accredited in Kazakhstan. This event, marking the end of the winter season, provided a unique opportunity for informal dialogue, fostering camaraderie and deeper collaboration in a relaxed setting.
CICA Secretary General Ambassador Kairat Sarybay expressed appreciation to skiing enthusiasts and highlighted the importance of maintaining this tradition as a means of strengthening confidence building and people-to-people connections.
He provided an overview of CICA’s events shaping trajectory for 2025, in alignment with a vision of Azerbaijan’s Chairmanship, which prioritizes trust building through impactful confidence building measures, focusing on connectivity, digitalization, sustainable growth, international partnerships and enhanced visibility. A strong emphasis will be placed on the human dimension — promoting education, culture, youth engagement and volunteerism. Among the upcoming initiatives announced were an international essay contest for CICA youth on cultural heritage protection, a CICA youth brainstorming competition and a CICA artificial intelligence art competition.
Ambassador Sarybay further emphasized that the CICA Secretariat will continue fostering closer ties among diplomatic missions in Astana by organizing events such as cycling tours, ski tours and football tournaments. He underscored CICA’s strong belief in the power of personal connections as the foundation of multilateral dialogue and diplomacy, reaffirming its core mission of building trust and cooperation across the region.
