,ژ,ڈThe ECO Secretary General, H.E. Amb. Khusrav Noziri, participated in the 6th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), held in Astana on 12-13 October, 2022.
,ژ,ڈThe ECO Secretary General, H.E. Amb. Khusrav Noziri, participated in the 6th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), held in Astana on 12-13 October, 2022.
The Summit marked the attendance of Heads of State/Government, Foreign Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Representatives of CICA Member States. Several important Regional and International Organisations also participated in the event. The 6th CICA Summit coincided with the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the Establishment of the CICA.
The Summit was hosted and chaired by the Republic of Kazakhstan. While chairing the Summit, the President of Kazakhstan, H.E. Kassym-Jomart K. Tokayev, mentioned the growing importance of the CICA, referring to the fact that membership of the organisation had raised to 28 which was limited to 15 in 1998. The President stated that the prestige of the CICA in Asia and among global community of nations had increased tremendously. The CICA Summit also witnessed the State of Kuwait becoming new member to the Organisation.
Discussions during the Summit revolved around extraordinary challenges confronting Asia and approaches to resolve them timely and successfully. The engaging discussions shed light on regionalism in Asia, security in Asia, inter-civilisational dialogue, environmental disasters, decarbonisation of economy, ongoing military conflicts, increasing protectionism, revival of the economies in the post-covid world, growing global food insecurity, increasing cost of living, conducting trade in local currencies, optimisation of supply chains, uncertain and unpredictable situation in Afghanistan, combatting extremism, terrorism and drug trafficking, etc..
While delivering statement, the ECO Secretary General acknowledged the extraordinary organisation of the Summit by the Republic of Kazakhstan and appreciated the reform process and up-gradation of the Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures carried out during its Chairmanship of CICA. The Secretary General emphasised that the importance of multilateralism,at present, was more than ever before and the problems humanity faced had long ago transcended national frontiers. The Secretary General stated that it was beyond the capacity of an individual to resolve the issues which were no longer national in character and dimensions. While commending the role CICA had been playing over the years, the Secretary General stated that multilateralism was the best antidote and the only available solution to the challenges of modern world.
At the end of his statement, the Secretary General highlighted partnership relationship between the ECO and CICA and stated that the object of the two Organisations was identical which was socio-economic development of the region.
The CICA is an important external partner of the Economic Cooperation Organisation and the institutionalisation of ties between both Organisations took place when MoU was signed in August 2008.
