26-27 March – Boao, China – The Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) participated in the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025 (BFA) held under the topic “Asia in the Changing World: Towards a Shared Future”. This prominent international event convened approximately 2,000 participants, including heads of state and government officials, leaders of international organizations, senior banking executives and prominent representatives from political, economic, business and academic communities.
At the Forum, Ambassador Sarybay delivered remarks during the roundtable session, "Towards the Future of Regional Integration: Openness & Connectivity – Synergizing Regional Mechanisms." He underscored the critical importance of genuine multilateralism based on sovereign equality and mutual respect, highlighting regional integration, openness and connectivity as essential pathways for addressing global challenges. He noted the close alignment of CICA’s objectives with well-known security initiatives of the distinguished President of China Xi Jinping, such as the Global Security Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative, collectively strengthening regional security and prosperity.
The Secretary General outlined the Azerbaijani Chairmanship’s priorities under the theme “Stronger CICA, Connectivity, Digitalization and Sustainable Growth in Asia,” emphasizing CICA’s transformation into a full-fledged international organization, effective implementation of confidence building measures, and enhanced synergy with regional and global platforms. He added that Azerbaijan will enhance cross-sectoral interactions in several areas spanning from youth and academic engagement to enhancing economic dimension, paying due attention to transport, digitalization, climate, agriculture, cultural heritage preservation, cultural exchanges and cyber-security issues.
Ambassador Sarybay further highlighted CICA’s unwavering commitment to enhancing regional synergy through deeper cooperation with the UN system, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and its Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO RATS), the Eurasian Economic Union and the Economic Cooperation Organization.
The CICA Secretary General reaffirmed CICA’s unique position as a pan-Asian forum, facilitating genuine, inclusive dialogue and consensus-based decision-making. "With its largest geographical reach, broad agenda and diverse toolkit, CICA is fully capable to consolidate the collective wisdom of Asian nations in the interests of peace, cooperation and development," he noted. Through its ongoing transformation, CICA continues to unite Asian nations in promoting peace, cooperation, prosperity, and sustainable development, thereby enhancing Asia's role in the evolving global order.
On the sidelines of the BFA 2025, Ambassador Sarybay met with Secretary General of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue Ambassador Mr. Nasser Al-Mutairi, to discuss CICA, the ACD and other regional organizations that can synergy efforts towards better connectivity and multilateralism.
The Secretary General also held an engaging dialogue with Mr. Kirill Babayev, Director of the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences and congratulated with the assuming role as a member of the CICA Think Tank Forum. Discussions included the TTF’s 2025 Annual Action Plan and result-oriented cooperation to achieve practical outcomes.
Additionally, he engaged with distinguished figures including former Indonesian Foreign Minister Dr. Marty Natalegawa and Ambassador Volkan Bozkir, President of the 75th UN General Assembly, ex-President of Slovenia Mr.Danilo Turk and Secretary-General of the UN World Tourism Organization Mr.Zurab Pololikashvili, discussing CICA’s current agenda and the Azerbaijani Chairmanship's priorities for 2024 - 2026.
On 28 March 2025, during his visit to Beijing the CICA Secretary General conducted consultations with Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin, expressing gratitude for China's consistent support, including voluntary financial contributions and diplomatic secondments, while Mr. Liu Bin reaffirmed China’s commitment to reinforcing CICA by assisting in advancing priorities set forth by the Azerbaijani Chairmanship. The meeting addressed key topics and future directions on the CICA agenda.
Ambassador Sarybay also visited the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, holding discussions with Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev on strengthening synergy and advancing cooperation within the framework of the 2014 Memorandum of Understanding.
The Ambassador further met with Yu Tao, Deputy Director of the China International Communications Group (CICG), to explore avenues for fostering international exchanges in culture, youth engagement, women's empowerment, science and education.
In a meeting with Ms. Xu Rong, Chief Editor of Foreign Languages Press (FLP), subsidiary of the CICG, the CICA Secretary General expressed gratitude to the FLP for promotion of multilingualism at CICA through the dedication to translate the Tales of Asia book into the Chinese language.
The visit concluded with an interview given by Ambassador Sarybay to the CGTN:https://youtu.be/CX0_3oT9b8c?si=B-nfvrg4pk6yKxW9
Read the full statement by CICA Secretary General, Ambassador Kairat Sarybay, at the BFA Annual Conference 2025: https://www.s-cica.org/index.php?view=page&t=speeches&id=310
