H.E. Mr. Kairat Sarybay’s visit to Egypt: strengthening cooperation between the CICA and the League of Arab States
On June 28th, 2021, the Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) H.E. Mr. Kairat Sarybay, who arrived in Cairo on a working visit, met with the Deputy Secretary General of the League of Arab States (LAS) Dr. Khaled bin Naif al-Habbas.
At the beginning of the conversation, the Ambassador, H.E. Kairat Lama Sharif presented an invitation on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan M. Tleuberdi, addressed to the Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, to take part in the 6th Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CICA member states. The official representative of the Arab League with gratitude accepted the invitation, expressing the preliminary readiness of the Secretary General of the Arab League to take part in the event, which, in mutual opinion, will contribute to the further expansion of the partnership between the two alliances.
H.E. Mr. Kairat Sarybay, emphasized the importance of continuing a constructive dialogue and close interaction with the Arab League within the five dimensions of cooperation included in the Catalog of Confidence Building Measures. Special attention is paid to the topic of launching the process of transforming the Conference into an international organization for regional security.
Dr. Khaled al-Habbas noted the high efficiency of Kazakhstan's work as the chairing country of the CICA for the period 2020-2022, which allowed the Forum to achieve serious progress in many key areas of partnership - political, economic, humanitarian.
He drew attention to the interest of the Arab League, which has observer status in the Meeting, in deepening interaction with the CICA. He emphasized the role of the Arab states, noting that 14 out of 22 Arab countries that make up the League of Arab States represent the Asian continent, of which 7 are full members of the Conference.
Special attention was paid to the discussion of such initiatives as the establishment of the Council of Wise Men and the CICA Fund to finance joint projects, the Forum of Analytical Structures as a permanent platform, which, according to the LAS official representative, "create unique incentives for cooperation." In this context, the parties considered mechanisms for increasing contacts between the secretariats, as well as ways to increase the effectiveness of joint activities.
An agreement was reached on joint preparation and holding of a number of international events in order to exchange best practices and unleash the potential of multilateral cooperation.
The Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Arab Republic of Egypt, H.E. Kairat Lama Sharif and the staff of the CICA Secretariat accompanying the Executive Director H.E. Mr. Kairat Sarybay took part in the negotiations.