Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to welcome all participants joining today's meeting of the Think Tank Forum.
I would like to begin by highlighting the contribution of the People's Republic of China and the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies to the development of the Think Tank Forum. A year ago, by decision of the CICA Member States, the Forum became a permanent informational and analytical advisory body of our Conference.
The establishment of the TTF led to the creation of a new, special platform for discussing the ways and problems of development, not only of CICA itself, but also in a broader sense – challenges of today’s world. The Forum’s status and composition make it possible to consider an almost unlimited range of issues, to produce analytical assessments and recommendations, which could be used in the future by the CICA Member States on a voluntary basis. This is why the TTF is particularly valuable.
The 10th TTF meeting has a full and varied agenda. There is certainly a wide range of topics to be discussed – food and energy security, green economy and connectivity, 30 years of CICA's experience and the future outlook – all these topics are, one might say, at the cutting edge today. I have no doubt that they will generate interest not only among scientists and analysts of the participating think tanks, but also among the governments of the Member States. I expect that all CICA countries will have full access to the materials of today's discussion, and not just those who have their representatives in the TTF.
I believe that the last item on the agenda of the 10th TTF meeting, which is the discussion of the Plan of Action for 2023, is of utmost importance. Given that the TTF has become a permanent CICA institute, its activities need to become ongoing as well. I am certain that Member States and their representatives in the TTF have many ideas in this respect. The Secretariat is represented at the meeting by CICA Expert, Ambassador Doulat Kuanyshev, a diplomat with extensive experience, including in the analytical field. He will share his thoughts on this matter. We are grateful to the Chinese side, specifically the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, for the initiative to discuss the Plan of Action for 2023, and we hope that by the proposed deadline of 6 December, the TTF participants and other interested parties will provide their suggestions and thoughts on how to organize the work of the Forum during the next year, before the 11th meeting scheduled for November-December of next year.
We need to hear about the TTF at CICA at all times, not just during meetings, so that ideas put forth by analysts are discussed by the CICA governing bodies and translated into specific actions and decisions. It is an ideal to strive for, but it is also a very realistic approach.
Esteemed colleagues,
The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia now brings together 28 states covering more than 90 percent of the territory of the largest and most densely populated continent on the planet. Asia has the world's strongest development momentum and highest economic growth rates, but it also faces the greatest number of challenges and problems that need to be addressed thanks to the joint efforts of nations through dialogue and confidence building measures. Our region also demonstrates the ability to self-organize, as evidenced by the very existence and functioning of CICA. I would especially like to note that while a number of regional structures around the globe are facing problems of new goal-setting in a changing world, stagnation and even crisis of further development, CICA, which celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, continues to grow, actively change and try to meet the challenges of the time. This was evidenced by the unanimous decision of the Member States adopted this October at the Astana Summit on the gradual transformation of CICA into a full-fledged international organization.
The institutional development of CICA continues. In addition to the already established advisory bodies, such as the Council of Eminent Persons, Business Council, Youth Council and Think Tank Forum, the Astana Summit decided to establish the CICA Fund - a special mechanism for selecting projects and accumulating voluntary funds for their implementation. It is expected that the CICA Fund will help to provide practical assistance to the Member States on a wide range of issues, including in achieving development goals, practical implementation of confidence building measures, research and scientific activities, as well as humanitarian assistance to Member States.
Serious steps have been taken towards the development and strengthening of confidence building measures. After ten years of discussion, the CICA Plan of Action on the Implementation of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy was agreed and adopted. Based on the Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures updated in 2021, one of the fundamentally new areas of interaction called “the security of and in the use of ICTs” has also been developed. The coordinators of this priority area – the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China – initiated the adoption of a corresponding Joint Statement by the leaders of the CICA Member States, which was unanimously supported by the Member States.
Our values attract new partners: Turkmenistan gained observer status in 2021, in 2022 Kuwait joined the CICA family, becoming its full member, partnership relations were established with the Eurasian Economic Commission of the Eurasian Economic Union.
The CICA family is growing due to its relevance, the high importance of its objectives, the convincing power of a large number of joint practical activities showing our closeness.
Distinguished participants,
It has become a commonplace for statesmen and experts in the last decade to talk about their concerns with regard to the events in Afghanistan.
It is necessary to understand that while the internal policy issues must be owned by the Afghans and only by them, the international order and progress in the region can be achieved only through collective efforts.
I am sure that the issue of Afghanistan, a member of CICA, should always be in the focus of attention of the CICA think tanks. We need to understand how CICA could contribute to overcoming serious regional problems related to Afghanistan, how to help the Afghan people build a peaceful, secure and prosperous state.
The issue of the Middle East settlement is another constant topic for discussion at the level of the CICA analytical circles. A bold, creative approach can bring new initiatives and recipes to solve this and other long-standing problems.
All the listed issues, problems, and areas of confidence building measures can and should be in the focus of the TTF, which is designed to study them, analyse and develop proposals, ideas and initiatives that can be proposed to the CICA Member States. We are counting on the TTF capacity, which seems to be very significant.
In conclusion, I would like to wish the participants of the meeting success and outstanding results.
I hope that the participants of the meeting will exchange views and hold discussions on the most pressing issues of pan-Asian development and cooperation.
Thank you.
