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Astana, December 17, 2024 – Republic of Kazakhstan officially handed over the chairmanship in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) to the Republic of Azerbaijan at the Seventh meeting of the Council of Foreign Affairs Ministers, reports Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
At the event Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs Murat Nurtleu summarized the results of Kazakhstan’s four-year CICA chairmanship, noting the key achievements of the organization during this period.
In particular, special attention was paid to the transformation process launched following the Sixth CICA Summit held in October 2022 in Astana. According to the Transformation Roadmap, adopted in September 2023, the Kazakh chairmanship has developed and launched the consideration process of the draft Charter of the Conference. In the mentioned period Kazakhstan has initiated the formation of three new advisory bodies – Think Tank Forum, Council of Eminent Persons, CICA Fund.
In his speech, Minister Nurtleu outlined foreign policy priorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the fields of transit and transport connectivity, development of information and communication technologies and climate change.
Kazakh Foreign Minister confirmed that Kazakhstan is committed to further development of CICA and stated his confidence that the Conference, keeping in mind its unique format and geography, has serious prospects and bright future.
At the meeting, the Ministers adopted a number of documents, including a Statement on the 25th anniversary of the Declaration on the Principles guiding relations among Member States, Decision on Modalities of implementation of confidence building measures and an updated Catalog of Confidence Building Measures, as well as launched a Partner Network of Leading Universities of the Member States.
Following the event, Member States highly evaluated Kazakhstan’s CICA chairmanship, noting the significant progress in institutionalization of the Conference.
The event was attended by the heads of foreign affairs offices of the Member States and observer countries, including the ministers of Azerbaijan, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of nine international organizations, including the UN, the International Organization for Migration, the League of Arab States, the Turkic Parliamentary Assembly, the Economic Cooperation Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the EEC, and the UN Office for Drugs and Crime.