Second Senior Officials Committee (SOC) meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) under the Kazakh chairmanship reached significant achievements on June 23, 2021.
The SOC approved granting of the CICA Observer Status to Turkmenistan, which became another confirmation of CICA’s growing role in strengthening security across Asia.
The SOC approved the draft of the Regulations of the CICA Council of Eminent Persons and recommended its adoption by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CICA Member States.
The SOC adopted the decision on the List of coordinating and co-coordinating countries for implementing Confidence Building Measures under priority areas of CICA dimensions. The List contains new co-coordinating countries: China and Jordan in the priority area «Epidemiological safety, public health and pharmaceuticals», China in the priority area «Development of secure and effective systems of transportation corridors», Bangladesh in the priority area «Natural disaster management», and China in the human dimension.
In addition, SOC adopted the General Guidelines for Conducting Events on Implementation of CICA Confidence Building Measures.
Chair of the SOC – First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan H.E. Shakhrat Nuryshev in his opening remarks underlined significant intensification of the activities within CICA. In particular, he mentioned successful meetings of the 8th CICA Think Tank Forum, Finance Summit and Agricultural Training Course organized by People’s Republic of China, Conference “The Role of Youth in Countering Radicalism, Extremism and Terrorism” by the Republic of Uzbekistan, Seminar “Promoting Cohesion: Learning from Volunteerism in Disaster Risk Management” by People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Workshop on “COVID-9 and SME’s: Sharing Experience, Best Practices and Bounce Back Strategy” by the Kingdom of Thailand, A Law Enforcement Training Program on Crime Intelligence Analysis and Training Course for Criminal Police Offices “Organized Crime Investigation Techniques” by the Republic of Turkey, Workshop on “Renewable Energy for Energy Security” by the Republic of India, as well as the Board of Business Council and the CICA Youth Council organized by Kazakhstan.
First Deputy Minister noted with satisfaction that great work has been done to increase the visibility of CICA. In particular, he emphasized the meeting with the Founder of the CICA, First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on May 26, 2021, who shared his vision and prospects of the CICA process and its role in strengthening cooperation and security across Asia
This SOC meeting was also special as it featured the thematic discussion on “Growing role of Asia in international affairs and related adaptation of CICA” under a separate agenda item. Member States expressed common view on the crucial role of Asia in shaping international affairs, and confirmed that CICA is an important instrument in promoting peace, security and prosperity in Asia and continues to strengthen dialogue and confidence building measures in the CICA area.
Foreign Secretary of India H.E. Harsh Vardhan Shringla reaffirmed India’s commitment to strengthen the forces of cooperative multilateralism and stressed the importance of close cooperation within CICA.
Secretary State of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Cambodia H.E. Chring Botum Rangsay stressed that CICA is a dynamic and diverse platform in Asia with many dimensions of cooperation and highlighted the importance of further strengthening the institutional role of CICA.
Undersecretary for Political Affairs of Bahrain MFA H.E. Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa underscored the importance of multilateralism and inclusiveness and the need for enhancing cooperation of CICA with other international organizations.
Director General of the Department for international peace and security of Iran MFA H.E. Reza Najafi emphasized the importance of CICA in foreign policy of Iran, noted the need for structured transformation of CICA, and that Iran will welcome any CICA initiatives which promote friendly relations.
Acting Director General for International security affairs of the MFA of Turkey Ms. Berna Kasnakli Versteden reiterated that regional responses request regional solutions and we should use CICA capacity to create synergy and work collectively to ensure peace and stability in the region.
“When Member States seat at common table, they do not focus on existing conflicts they rather explore possible areas of mutual beneficial cooperation” said Deputy Director of the Department of Asian and Pacific Cooperation of the MFA of Russia Ms. Natalya Stepkina.
Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Organizations of the MFA of Vietnam Dr. Hai Luu Nguyen underlined the importance of strengthening cooperation with UN and other international organizations as ASEAN and urged to join efforts in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
“The CICA should make efforts to promote the liberalization and simplification of trade and investment procedures, deepen regional economic cooperation, strengthen cooperation in the field of economic recovery of our countries” said the Counsellor of the European and Central Asian Affairs of the MFA of China Ms. Zhang Hongjian.
At the meeting a video message was delivered by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, Head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, Ambassador Vladimir Voronkov, who elaborated on issues of global terrorism and expressed readiness to cooperate with CICA and its Member States in countering terrorism and violent extremism. CICA continues its work on the CICA Action Plan for the Implementation of UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy.
The SOC tasked the Special Working Group with finalizing the draft of the updated CICA Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures, and with agreeing on the draft of the Regulations of the CICA Think Tank Forum and amendments to the CICA Rules of Procedure in relation to the status of Observers before the next SOC meeting.
Overall, the CICA SOC meeting was held in the spirit of open dialogue and frank exchange of views, proposals and ideas.
