14 October 2026, Baku – Convening on the eve of the Seventh CICA Summit, the Senior Officials Committee (SOC) of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) concluded its meeting in Baku, delivering consensus on the entire SOC agenda.
Held under the Chairmanship of Azerbaijan, the SOC finalized the draft outcome documents – the draft Baku Declaration of the Seventh CICA Summit and the draft CICA Statement on Cooperation in the Field of Occupational Safety and Health – submitting them for final approval and adoption by the Heads of State on 15 October 2026.
Further decisions by the SOC included extension of Azerbaijan’s Chairmanship for 2026–2028 term with CICA Member States expressing appreciation to the Republic of Azerbaijan for the effective work of its Chairmanship.
In the same spirit, the SOC approved the draft decision on the appointment of Ambassador Sultan Hajiyev, nominated by Azerbaijan, as the new CICA Secretary General for 2026–2030, while extending gratitude to outgoing Secretary General Ambassador Kairat Sarybay for his dedicated six-year CICA leadership.
Alongside this substantive work, the meeting in Baku was marked by two key developments for CICA.
The Lao People's Democratic Republic signed CICA’s foundational documents – Declaration on the Principles Guiding Relations between the CICA Member States and the Almaty Act. The signing represents the implementation of a commitment made in early September 2026, when the President of Laos visited the CICA Headquarters in Astana and announced the country’s intention to elevate its status from an Observer to a full Member State (brief remarks by CICA Secretary General; brief remarks by Director General of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Cambodia).
On the sidelines of the SOC meeting, the Kingdom of Cambodia deposited its instrument of ratification for the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the CICA Secretariat. As the 14th CICA Member State to ratify the Convention, Cambodia provided the final ratification required for the document to take legal effect. Consequently, the Convention will officially enter into force 30 days after today's deposit.
The outcomes and the spirit of consensus demonstrated at the SOC meeting in Baku underscored the shared commitment to advancing the CICA agenda and continued regional dialogue.
