Deputy Minister Mr. Tursunov,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I thank you very much for attending this special briefing today.
As you know, the year 2022 is the busiest and the most event full year for the CICA, the Chairmanship and the Secretariat. I would like to express my gratitude to the Chairmanship for organizing such a timely high-level meeting that, hopefully, will help all of us for better preparation of the upcoming 6th CICA Summit – a milestone event for CICA and its Member States.
The Chairmanship has set many priorities for the strengthening of CICA process through intensive engagements and interactions among its Member States. The key strategic goal of the current Chairmanship is the transformation of CICA into a full-fledged international organization. Keeping this in mind, long time ago, I prepared myself for the meetings, visits and interactions with the leaders both offline and online. I would like to take this opportunity to present a brief report on my activities, especially on my working visit to various CICA Member States, which I have been performing, on behalf of Chairmanship with an aim to strengthen and promote CICA process and explain the priorities of the Chairmanship.
In 2021, I have made 10 working visits, namely to Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt, Uzbekistan and Iran. I met more than 15 Foreign Ministers of CICA Countries and a number of respective senior diplomats. I had also an opportunity to talk with the leadership of various international organizations such as UN Office on Counter Terrorism (UNOCT), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Turkic Council, League of Arab States (LAS), Asian Parliamentary Assembly and other international bodies on the sidelines of prominent international events.
Similarly, in 2022, so far, I visited Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Turkey, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Mongolia. I had productive and fruitful interactions, especially on transformation process, with Foreign Ministers and senior diplomat of those CICA Member States. In addition, this year, I participated in the international events such as Antalya Diplomacy Forum and Tashkent Conference on Counter Terrorism. I had also opportunity to interact with the leaders of Eurasian Economic Commission, UNESCAP, UNOCT, UNODC, Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), Economic Cooperation Organization, (ECO). Essentially, I have set a more ambitious goal to visit all CICA Member States (with few exceptions, of course, owing to COVID-19 pandemic and internal situation). This year, I managed to visit 12 countries and 7 more are in the pipeline, which I expected to visit before the end of July.
These trips proved to be rather effective and productive in terms of promoting the CICA process, sustaining its dynamics, attracting more interest towards CICA and, of course, raising awareness and garnering support for the Chairmanship priorities and CICA’s relevant tasks and goals. I thank to Chair and its diplomatic Missions for its support.
Excellencies,
Analyzing the outcomes of those visits, I would like to share with you few thoughts. First and foremost, we at the Secretariat, gladly realized that more and more Member States are discovering comparative advantages of CICA as an effective mechanism of multilateral interaction and cooperation in Asia. Many senior diplomats have spoken of the need to raise the profile of CICA and enhance its visibility. One remarkable thing is that many representatives articulated the demand for more practical interactions within CICA, focusing on issues of connectivity (in the broadest sense possible), trade, transport, energy and food security, sustainable development and environment protection.
If I may summarize the general attitude of leaders and senior diplomats, it can be firmly said that CICA possesses genuine potential to become an essential platform of multilateral cooperation in Asia. To that end the initiative of Kazakh Chairmanship to launch the transformation of CICA and give it the necessary political impetus during the upcoming 6th Summit seems quite timely and significant.
During my communication with CICA Member States throughout one and a half years, I have convincingly heard general support expressed to the idea of transformation and readiness of many Members to engage in structured discussions on the matter, of course, on the basis of consensus and common interests.
Another important view reflected by my counterparts is that CICA countries possess vast expertise and experience in various areas of cooperation and that this wisdom should be effectively employed through effective mechanism already available in CICA – that is Confidence Building Measures, Council of Eminent Persons, Think Tank Forum, Business Council and Youth Council. All these activities along with CICA transformation would definitely contribute to strengthening the global role of Asia and transition to a new level of cooperation among CICA Members.
I sincerely hope that this constructive dialogue between Member States will continue further in good faith and with noble intention. Finally, I assure that the Secretariat would contribute everything, as much possible, for the realization of its goals and objectives.
Thank you for your attention.
