Astana, 20 August 2026 – Secretary General of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Ambassador Kairat Sarybay took part in the First Volunteer Forum of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The opening ceremony began with a welcoming address by President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, read out by Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and Information Aida Balayeva.
In his message, the President of Kazakhstan noted the symbolic significance of holding the Forum during the International Volunteer Year for Sustainable Development (IVY 2026), declared by the UN General Assembly at the initiative of Kazakhstan. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized that Kazakhstan regards volunteering as a vital instrument of people-to-people diplomacy and confidence building, state support for which is now enshrined in the country's new Constitution.
In his address, Secretary General Sarybay drew attention to how closely the theme of the Forum – Unity through Volunteering: Partnership, Trust, Development – resonates with the mission of CICA, which is aimed at building sustained dialogue and an atmosphere of good-neighbourliness across the Asian continent. He noted that volunteering had moved swiftly from a political initiative to genuine practical engagement. This was facilitated by the inclusion of volunteering in the CICA Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures in 2024 as a separate area of the Human Dimension.
Forum participants were briefed on the successful CICA events held on the margins of the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York this July, which featured a side event and a photo exhibition, along with the presentation of an e-publication on best practices of the CICA Member States, available on the official website of the CICA Secretariat.
Secretary General Sarybay underscored the potential of the global volunteer movement, which today brings together more than two billion people worldwide, and called for the momentum of the International Volunteer Year to be used to move from sharing experience to joint practical action and to transform individual initiatives into long-term sustainable partnerships. Later the same day, Secretary General Sarybay met with Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers Toily Kurbanov at the CICA Headquarters.
The two sides reviewed the implementation of joint initiatives under IVY 2026 and noted the importance of sustaining the momentum gained once the Year concludes.
During the conversation particular attention was given to the e-publication on best volunteering practices of the CICA Member States, presented at the United Nations Headquarters on 17 July this year. Recognizing the importance of promoting volunteer initiatives, the two sides agreed to jointly promote the publication, making active use of the information resources of both organizations.
The meeting outlined new prospects for cooperation between CICA and the United Nations Volunteers, in particular, joint work on the substantive content of a round table on volunteering in Asia, which the Ministry of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan plans to hold in Astana in December this year.
The e-publication "Review of Best Practices in Volunteerism in CICA Member States" is available at the following link: https://s-cica.org/pdf/Review%20of%20Best%20%20Practices%20in%20Volunteerism.pdf
