CICA Secretary General’s extended talking points for the Tehran Dialogue Forum 2025 panel session on "BRICS and SCO: Crafting Hopeful Horizons for the Global South"

1. Comments on BRICS and SCO

While BRICS and SCO differ in structure and agenda, both have emerged as platforms where the voice of the Global South can be amplified. Importantly, both operate on principles of inclusivity and consensus, though recent developments, especially in South Asia, highlight the complexity of aligning diverse national interests.

From a regional perspective, both organizations contribute to the architecture of Eurasian and Global South cooperation. The SCO, with its strong emphasis on counterterrorism, regional stability, and economic integration, offers member states a framework for engagement on common security and development agendas. Similarly, BRICS, particularly through its financial instruments such as the New Development Bank, provides an alternative space for development financing and policy dialogue, especially amid growing concerns about conditionality in traditional financial institutions.

These dynamics are highly relevant to CICA. While BRICS and SCO function as global or interregional platforms, CICA offers a unique, regionally anchored and multidimensional mechanism grounded in Asia. CICA’s focus on consensus, inclusivity, and confidence-building makes it particularly well-suited to complement these broader initiatives. Moreover, many member states overlap across these organizations, reinforcing the potential for strategic coherence and synergy. For instance:

• Majority of SCO members are CICA members, sharing common concerns about regional security, stability, and economic resilience.
• The BRICS members — China, India, and Russia — are CICA members, creating natural bridges for dialogue.

 

2. SCO–CICA Synergy

The SCO and CICA share foundational principles—most notably, the consensus-based approach to decision-making. This institutional overlap creates a strong foundation for complementarity and policy alignment across several domains, particularly security cooperation, economic development, and regional connectivity. However, the two organizations differ in their scope and orientation:

• The SCO has a strong security focus, particularly in counterterrorism, border control, and regional stability. Its institutional mechanisms, such as the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), give it operational capacity in the field of security cooperation.
• CICA, on the other hand, has a broader and more flexible mandate, encompassing not only security but also economic, environmental, and human dimensions. It encourages confidence-building measures in a comprehensive sense, including soft security, dialogue on trade and connectivity, and cooperation in education and culture.

Given the current geopolitical environment—marked by both strategic competition and regional realignments—there is a growing need for organizations like CICA and SCO to function in synergy rather than in isolation. Together, they can amplify regional voices within global governance institutions; coordinate responses to transnational threats such as extremism, cyber threats, and economic disruption; advance connectivity projects, especially across Central and South Asia, where both organizations are heavily engaged.

Furthermore, enhancing synergy is one of the main priorities of the current CICA Chairmanship of Azerbaijan, proceeding from the understanding that closer engagement and collaboration are necessary for addressing shared challenges against the uneasy backdrop of continuing erosion of multilateralism. This can be utilized as a good opportunity for closer engagement of the two organizations across areas of common concerns and interests.

Moreover, CICA’s transformation into a full-fledged organization opens new avenues for institutional partnerships. Joint initiatives, coordinated forums, or thematic dialogue platforms between CICA and SCO could enhance coherence across Asia’s regional mechanisms.

In this way, CICA can serve as both a bridge and an outreach platform—linking regional efforts to broader platforms like SCO and BRICS, while ensuring that the cooperative spirit remains inclusive, transparent, and regionally driven.

 

3. CICA’s Role and Topical Issues

Currently CICA is undergoing a significant transformation into a full-fledged international organization. This evolution is driven by a structured, inclusive, and transparent negotiation process, aiming to enhance CICA's institutional framework and operational capacity.

A pivotal aspect of this transformation is the establishment of permanent platforms to foster sectoral cooperation. Notably, the proposal to transform the CICA Finance Summit into a permanent platform reflects a commitment to facilitating discussions on financial instruments among member states. This initiative aims to create favorable conditions for regional and subregional financial cooperation, thereby contributing to economic recovery and sustainable development.

Recognizing the critical role of transportation and logistics in regional economic integration, CICA has identified connectivity as a key priority. This involves forming the CICA Council on Sustainable Connectivity to address gaps in global supply chains and enhance transit-transport potential. By developing diversified communication and delivery routes, CICA aims to strengthen regional ties and support economic growth through improved infrastructure and connectivity. 4

 

Last year Ministerial meeting on Environmental Issues initiated by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan has adopted the final statement with strong emphasis on cooperation in some particular domains, including water management, natural disaster management, fight against desertification and climate change related issues. The idea to establish the framework for institutional cooperation in Environmental dimension of CICA is currently being discussed by Member States.

Within CICA, we also currently work towards new directions for closer cooperation, such as women empowerment. In this regard, the establishment of the CICA Women Council, initiated by the Chairmanship of Azerbaijan, will contribute to women entrepreneurship, facilitate women’s access to labor markets and financial resources, introduce sustainable business practices, among others. By so doing, it will serve the broader objective of economic and sustainable development, opening up further opportunities for fostering economic cooperation.