Astana, 17–18 September 2025 – The Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Ambassador Kairat Sarybay, took part in the 8th Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions at the invitation of the Head of the Congress Secretariat, Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan H.E. Maulen Ashimbayev.
The Congress was inaugurated by H.E. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan, who presented a keynote address to the participants. He emphasized the unique mission of spiritual leaders as “messengers of peace acting under the banner of humanism”. Against the backdrop of geopolitical divisions and rising tensions, the President underlined the primacy of constructive diplomacy as a means of overcoming alienation, strengthening dialogue, and building trust in international affairs. In this context, the President noted the importance of enhancing the role of regional structures, emphasizing CICA in this regard, and stressed that the synthesis of spiritual wisdom and expert knowledge can be key to finding effective solutions to pressing global and regional challenges.
On the second day of the Congress, Ambassador Sarybay moderated the thematic session “Faith against Extremism: the Peacebuilding Potential of Religions”. In his remarks, he presented CICA’s relevance to the debate as a pan-Asian platform uniting 28 Member States and 10 Observers across 90% of Asia. He underlined the Organization’s commitment to implementing the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy through the CICA Plan of Action adopted at the 2022 Astana Summit. The Secretary General highlighted that the notions of interfaith and intercultural dialogue are deeply aligned with CICA’s goals and principles. He also engaged in insightful exchanges with representatives of various religious and international organizations, emphasizing shared responsibility in countering extremism and harnessing the peacebuilding potential of religions.
Ambassador Sarybay also gave an interview ahead of the Congress, where he stressed the importance of the forum as a unique platform for dialogue among civilizations and underlined the complementary missions of the Congress and CICA — the former fostering interfaith understanding, and the latter advancing interstate confidence building — both serving the common goal of strengthening peace and stability in Asia and beyond.
Read the full interview for The Astana Times: https://astanatimes.com/2025/09/cica-could-become-asias-collective-voice-says-secretary-general/
