Discussion on CICA's transformation into international organization held within Kazakhstan's presidency

NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM – Senior Officials Committee (SOC) of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) chaired by the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Shakhrat Nuryshev held its first meeting this year, Kazinform cites the Kazakh MFA.

The main topic of the agenda was a discussion on the Concept of transformation of the CICA into an international organization.

Nuryshev spoke on the key aspects of transformation, the primary objectives of which are strengthening the global role of Asia and moving to a new level of cooperation among CICA Member States. It was stressed that CICA, being a mature platform for political dialogue and interaction on confidence building, has acquired all attributes of an international organization and de-facto functions as such.

Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Talgat Kaliyev also briefed the SOC on preparations for the 6th CICA Summit, nominations to the Council of Eminent Persons, draft regulations of the CICA Fund, as well as the status of ratification of the CICA Convention on Privileges and Immunities.

Executive Director of the CICA Secretariat Kairat Sarybay informed on the status of Concept Papers on implementation of CBMs, presented the annual financial report of the Secretariat for 2021 and highlighted the projects carried out within the framework of the 30th anniversary of CICA.

The Member States emphasized the importance of transformation of the CICA and supported the proposal of the Kazakh Chairmanship to launch the transformation process of the Conference into an international organization at the upcoming CICA Summit in Nur-Sultan in October 2022.