Distinguished Mr. Lyukmanov,
Distinguished Mr. Miroshnikov,
Esteemed colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to thank the Russian side for the excellent organization of this Forum and the warm hospitality extended in the beautiful city of Kazan. To the best of my knowledge, Kazan is a partner city of my hometown, Almaty, which makes it all the more a pleasure for me to be here.
Second of all, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone on the 80th anniversary of the Victory over fascism, which was widely and solemnly commemorated by the international community just a few days ago.
Distinguished delegates,
Today, we are meeting under the framework of the Russia – Islamic World Forum. I would like to note that the Russian Federation has been one of the most active and engaged participants in CICA, contributing significantly to the organization’s development throughout its history. Moscow has traditionally devoted sustained and consistent attention to realizing CICA’s practical potential across all formats of our interaction.
In turn, Islamic countries have demonstrated a growing interest in multilateral cooperation in Asia. It is noteworthy that over the past few years, the CICA family has expanded mainly through the inclusion of Muslim countries: Kuwait became the 28th Member State, while Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia joined as observers. Morocco has applied for observer status.
Largely thanks to its vast geography, eventful agenda and diverse array of instruments based on the principles of consensus and inclusiveness, CICA is well positioned to consolidate the collective wisdom of Asian countries and serve as a bridge between various organizations, sharing their best practices and solutions, fostering greater cooperation and enhancing coordination.
Significant progress has been made in CICA’s development over the past five years. The historic decision adopted by the leaders at the Sixth Summit in Astana in October 2022 to launch the transformation of CICA into a full-fledged international organization has laid a solid foundation for further strengthening and promoting CICA's strategic priorities for the benefit of all Member States.
Important work has been dedicated to extensively updating the CICA Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures. Committed to further enhancing their efforts and responding effectively to the evolving needs of the region and the international geopolitical environment, the Member States agreed to implement confidence building measures in 18 priority areas across five dimensions of cooperation: economic, human, environmental, military-political, and new challenges and threats. For the first time, the CICA mandate addressed pressing issues such as ensuring epidemiological safety and promoting volunteerism, and it should be noted that, at the behest of the Russian Federation and with the support of the PRC, a dialogue was launched on the security of and in the use of ICTs.
The importance of coordinated approaches and multilateral dialogue in this area was reaffirmed by the joint Leaders’ Statement on Cooperation in the Field of Security of and in the Use of ICTs, adopted following the Sixth CICA Summit in October 2022. It was noted that as ICTs have come to play an increasingly significant role in all aspects of life, the risks of their misuse for criminal and terrorist purposes have grown proportionally, raising concerns about threats to data security and the potential fragmentation of the Internet.
Special mention was made of the importance of mechanisms for the global discussion on international information security, such as the UN Open-ended Working Group on Security of and in the Use of ICTs 2021-2025, as well as the UN Open-ended Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Committee of Experts to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of ICTs for Criminal Purposes. It is encouraging that the Ad Hoc Committee successfully completed its work and that the UN General Assembly approved the text of the Convention in December 2024.
Alongside declarative commitments, CICA Member States are actively implementing practical measures of cooperation in this area.
Over the last five years, our platform has hosted the following events:
- “Conference on the impact of emerging technologies on international security and terrorism” (Republic of Korea, October 2020);
- “Seminar on prospects of cooperation in the area of cybersecurity” (Kazakhstan, November 2021);
- “Workshop on sustainable and secure development of the Internet” (Russia, August 2022);
- In December 2022, at the initiative of the SCO Secretariat and with the support of the CICA Secretariat, a training seminar on combating cybercrime was organized for the SCO and CICA countries;
- In May 2023, India held a workshop on countering the misuse of the Internet in the fight against terrorism;
- In October 2023, Russia organized a webinar on digital forensics.
It is important to note that CICA Member States are interested in dialogue and the exchange of best practices regarding digitalization and the application of ICTs in business, trade, logistics and agriculture. For instance, the CICA Business Council will meet next week in Baku to explore best practices in the use of digital tools by SMEs to integrate into regional and global supply chains. That is, the issues of information and communication technologies, their security and safety of their use are becoming cross-sectoral. Such approach to these issues definitely calls for coordinated efforts of all states in the region, representatives from business, academia and civil society to create a secure and sustainable ICT environment.
In this context, experts from CICA countries widely welcomed another seminar organized by Russia this February, with the support of Kazakhstan, which focused on raising awareness among CICA Member States about ensuring security in the use of ICTs. The seminar covered several key topics, namely, investigation of ICT crimes; promotion of international cooperation to counter the criminal use of ICTs and related national measures; international legal aspects of ICT security; exchange of information on best national strategies and legislative practices of countries; countering and responding to computer incidents; and approaches of CICA Member States in organizing events to improve digital literacy and foster good cyber hygiene among the population. The participation of representatives from the UNODC and several IT companies was especially valuable.
Distinguished colleagues,
From 2024 to 2026, CICA is chaired by Azerbaijan, a country with extensive experience in leading major global platforms and a strong commitment to building bridges in the international arena. Guided by the theme “Stronger CICA, connectivity, digitalization and sustainable growth in Asia”, the Azerbaijani Chairmanship is focusing on three key priorities: transforming CICA into a full-fledged international organization, ensuring the effective implementation of confidence building measures and strengthening synergies and interaction with other international and regional platforms.
Baku's plans for the next two years in the area of ICT security include developing concept papers for a series of events and trainings for cybersecurity experts, including topics such as data security, experience sharing in cybersecurity and other areas.
I would also like to highlight Bangladesh's initiative to convene an expert meeting on confidence and capacity building in regional cybersecurity, as well as Russia's initiative to hold a panel session on international cooperation in combating the criminal use of ICTs, on the margins of the ICT-Crime 2025 conference in St. Petersburg this July.
The CICA Secretariat firmly supports this constructive attitude of the Member States and stands ready to provide the necessary technical and substantive support.
Thank you for your attention.
