The Ministry of Foreign Affairs discussed issues of cooperation between Kazakhstan and CICA

NUR-SULTAN, 3 December 2019 — First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Shakhrat Nuryshev met with the Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Habibullo Mirzozoda.

The parties discussed the implementation of the agreements reached at the fifth CICA Summit (14-15 June 2019, Dushanbe), including the announced initiatives of the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

In addition, they exchanged views on the prospects for the institutional development of the Forum, promoting a catalogue of confidence-building measures, as well as strengthening the interaction of CICA with other international and regional structures under the "Three D’s” initiative of First President Nursultan Nazarbayev. 

Mr Mirzozoda expressed his gratitude to the Kazakh delegation for the continued support provided to the CICA Secretariat and noted that it would continue to make efforts to expand and develop the Forum.

The parties emphasized the relevance of CICA for strengthening the dialogue, mutual trust and security on the Asian continent in the context of the changing geopolitical realities and modern challenges.

At the end of the meeting, Mr Nuryshev expressed gratitude to Mr Mirzozoda for the efforts made to promote the CICA and wished him further success in strengthening confidence-building measures among the countries participating in the Forum.

The idea of convening the CICA was proposed by First President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the 47th session of the UN General Assembly on October 5, 1992. The primary goal of the initiative is to create an effective and respectable structure with headquarters in Nur-Sultan to ensure peace and security in the region.

Currently, 27 Asian states are members of the CICA. 8 countries and 5 international organizations have joined the Forum as observers. Kazakhstan will chair the CICA in 2020.