Ambassador of Kazakhstan H.E. Azamat Berdibay held a briefing reception at the Crowne Plaza hotel last week under the theme: ‘Security and Sustainable Development in Asia’.
Several diplomats attended the briefing which was held within the framework of Kazakhstan’s Chairmanship in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA)
Addressing the gathering Ambassador Berdibay pointed out that the CICA is one of the most important foreign policy initiatives of Kazakhstan. In less than three decades, it has found its realization as an effective forum of multilateral diplomacy with the participation of 27 States occupying over 90 percent of the territory of the Asian continent with more than half of the world’s population and providing two-thirds of global economic growth.
He said that CICA faces the need to further adapt its tasks and tools for the full realization of its noble mission — to promote permanent meaningful interstate dialogue and cooperation for the sake of security and development of all peoples inhabiting the world’s largest continent. Last year, Kazakhstan again assumed the chairmanship of the Meeting, and therefore their diplomacy is entrusted with the responsible task of promoting this initiative.
The First President of Kazakhstan H.E. Nursultan Nazarbayev, had publicly announced a proposal to convene a Conference on Interaction and confidence-building measures in Asia at the 47th session of the UN General Assembly in October 1992. This step marked the beginning of the search for a new format of interstate cooperation in Asia in order to develop confidence-building measures in various areas of international cooperation.
The idea of the First President of Kazakhstan was met with interest and received positive responses from the leaders of the leading countries of the continent. Next year, ambassador Berdibay pointed out that this initiative would celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Today, it can be stated that after almost three decades, the CICA has become an effective forum for multilateral diplomacy in Asia. Its uniqueness is based on the common understanding of the participants in the meeting that peace and security in Asia can be achieved only through dialogue and cooperation, and this is the basis for the successful fulfillment of the main mission of the CICA — to serve as a platform for political dialogue and interaction in order to strengthen confidence.
Member States are constantly implementing confidence-building measures in jointly defined five dimensions of interaction, which include military-political, combating new challenges and threats, economic, environmental and humanitarian.