On behalf of the Secretariat of the ‘Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia’ (CICA), I would like to express my gratitude to the ‘Organisation for Security Co-operation in Europe’, host country Republic of Korea and Chair of the Asian Partners for Co-operation Group Slovak Republic for inviting the CICA to this very important and timely conference. I would like to thank all key note speakers for their presentation.
CICA believes that there is a close link between peace, security and stability in Asia and in the rest of the world. We are highly encouraged to participate and share CICA's response to Asian and global security challenges, in today’s inter-organizational dialogue.
Dear Colleagues,
Security cooperation is at the core of the philosophy of CICA. In order to promote and strengthen security cooperation among Member States, the CICA has adopted a dimension of cooperation called 'New Challenges and Threats', that includes CBMs related to counter-terrorism, border control management, human trafficking and trans-national crimes, which are in view of the diverse profile of the Member States, and realities typical to Asia. Member States have volunteered to coordinate and co-coordiante the implementation of these mutually agreed measures, and have specified the following priorities for Security cooperation:
To realize these priorities, top expert agencies of Member States organize and proactively participate in the activities like training programmes, field visits, experience sharing sessions, workshops, conferences and round-table talks. Turkey and Kazakhstan have been actively coordinating such activities on regular basis with support of their expert agencies.
Negotiations on CICA Action Plan for UN Global Counter- Terrorism Strategy are also in progress.
Dear Colleagues,
We are passing through a very turbulent time for Asia and the world: facing new challenges, in which historical destinies of people and nations are closely intertwined in pursuit of strong economic expansion, good public health, joint sustainable development and progress.
At this juncture, the Republic of Kazakhstan has assumed the CICA Chairmanship on 24 September 2020, for the period 2020-2022 with the theme “Partnership for Security and Development in Asia’.
I would like to draw your kind attention to the following global challenges of our time, which were highlighted by the CICA Chair during recently held CICA Ministerial Meeting;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the mutually agreed views of CICA leaders expressed during the Fifth CICA Summit held in June 2019, which articulate CICA’s vision on topics such as security situation in Asia and measures to promote the CICA dialogue, trust and coordination:
Excellencies,
We are committed to continue to strengthen the dialogue with international and regional organizations and forums to jointly respond the regional and global security challenges.
In order to develop relations with other organizations, CICA has signed Memorandums of Understanding with Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (RATS SOC); and The United Nations and Organisation for Security Co-operation in Europe(OSCE) are the observer organizations to CICA.
At the same time, CICA is open to cooperate with other regional and international organizations with common shared values and goals.
CICA believes that the cooperation with international partners will further expand joint efforts to enhance security and sustainable development in the region and beyond. Despite the fact that these organizations and forums pursue individual regional and political agendas, they operate within the UN principles, as does the CICA.
Distinguished colleagues,
Having said that, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that there are obvious similarities and common values shared by the CICA and the OSCE. The two institutions share also the Member States.
Certainly, there is a much untapped cooperation potential between the two organizations. I believe that closer interaction between the CICA and the OSCE would serve for the implementation of the mentioned common shared values and goals, and, without any doubt, for the benefit and prosperity of our nations.
Therefore, the Secretariat has been tasked to continue efforts to forge institutional level relationships with other international organizations, including the OSCE.
CICA Member States, while affirming their commitment to the UN Charter, believe that peace and security in Asia can be achieved through dialogue and cooperation leading to a common indivisible area of security in Asia where all states co-exist peacefully and their people live in peace, freedom and prosperity.
I thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for your kind attention.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.