CICA Headquarters, 5 October 2026
Excellencies, Distinguished guests,
Dear colleagues and friends,
A very happy CICA Day to all of you!
I am glad to see so many colleagues and friends gathered here. My special thanks go to H.E. Arman Issagaliyev, Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan representing the Host Country, for joining us today.
This CICA Day celebrated in the year of the Fire Horse began on a particularly symbolic note. Together with Ambassador Alimirzamin Askerov representing the Azerbaijani Chairmanship, we all have just unveiled the Garabagh horse sculpture in front of the Headquarters. I am immensely grateful to H.E. President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan for such a meaningful gift. And I thank Ambassador Askerov for sharing the history behind this symbol.
The sculpture now takes its place among the many works of art contributed by our Member States that enrich the Headquarters and reflect the remarkable cultural diversity of Asia.
Your Excellencies,
CICA Day naturally invites us to look back 34 years to the moment CICA was initiated, and also to the more recent milestone of the Astana Summit in 2022, as we approach the Baku Summit to be held in ten days. And there is much to be proud of!
The Sixth CICA Summit set our organization on a course of transformation. Under the Chairmanship of Kazakhstan, that ambition was translated into the relevant Road Map endorsed by the CICA Ministerial Council in 2023.
CICA has become more practical and tangible for our Member States, reflecting the priorities of both the current and previous Chairmanships.
Over these last four years, our Member States have conducted about a 100 confidence building events across all five CICA dimensions. One hundred occasions of building confidence around a wide range of practical and meaningful areas. The agenda has covered cybersecurity and counterterrorism, sustainable development and environment protection, connectivity and transport corridors, people-to-people contacts, SMEs, agriculture, mine safety and public health (as we saw here just a couple of days ago).
At the same time, our Member States have substantially expanded CICA’s institutional architecture. Let me give you a few glimpses from across the different dimensions.
The Economic dimension accounts for the largest share of our Member States’ practical cooperation.
The CICA Business Council, along with the Business Forum, has become a regular platform connecting governments, businesses and investors. This work has also produced a practical resource – the SME Landscape in Asia: Interactive Guidebook, now being expanded to cover all CICA Member States.
The first CICA Finance Summit was held in Astana just last month.
Our environmental agenda has gained a new level of political visibility.
In 2024, the Kazakh Chairmanship convened the first-ever CICA Ministerial Conference on Environmental Issues to address climate action, biodiversity, water management and pollution control, which produced a meaningful outcome document.
This agenda was carried forward by Baku’s climate diplomacy under the Azerbaijani Chairmanship through its practical initiatives, such as the first Circular Green Tourism project resulting in recommendations for further regional cooperation, as well as the seminar on applying green economy practices for SMEs.
In synergy with initiatives of other Member States, the Azerbaijani Chairmanship held side events on sustainable connectivity and climate-resilient transportation corridors in Baku and on water security and climate resilience in Dushanbe. Following suit, Kazakhstan hosted a high-level CICA meeting at the Regional Ecological Summit in Astana, while Türkiye held a panel session during the UNCCD COP17 in Ulaanbaatar.
In February 2026, a CICA Alley was opened in Bangkok – a visible symbol of Member States’ shared environmental commitment.
The Human dimension has developed just as dynamically.
Our Youth Council has evolved into an increasingly practical platform, bringing young people together.
An initiative on volunteerism announced at the Sixth CICA Summit led to two Rallies of Volunteer Movement Leaders – in Astana in 2024 and Baku in 2025. Volunteerism subsequently became part of the Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures.
This July, we took this agenda to the UN Headquarters in New York, where we launched the Review of Best Practices in Volunteerism in CICA Member States and presented an exhibition showcasing volunteer initiatives from across the CICA region.
The Women Council was officially launched in Baku this April.
The Partnership Network of Leading Universities has already grown to 182 universities representing 13 Member States.
The Think Tank Forum has entered a new stage of its development: last year, its Chairmanship was handed over from the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies to the Indian Council of World Affairs – the first such transfer since the Forum became a permanent CICA advisory body.
Last but not least, the CICA Fund has delivered tangible results through implementation of meaningful projects. Its first project, proposed by Kazakhstan and co-sponsored by Turkiye, supported 300 farmers in earthquake-affected areas of Afghanistan through the IOFS. The second project, proposed by Bangladesh, is now bringing together young people from CICA Member States to develop nature-based solutions to climate challenges.
This is precisely the direction our Member States want CICA to take: from dialogue to cooperation to tangible results.
Our legal foundations have also become stronger. Following last year’s ratification of our updated Host Country Agreement, the legal personality of CICA is about to be reinforced even further. On September 30, the Senate of Cambodia approved the ratification of the CICA Convention on Privileges and Immunities, bringing us to the long-awaited number of 14 ratifications necessary for the Convention to enter into force. A truly historic milestone for CICA!
Dear friends,
This year carries another special significance for CICA. In June 2026, we marked the 20th anniversary of the CICA Secretariat.
In July 2025, this building was inaugurated by H.E. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who had personally championed the construction of a dedicated CICA Headquarters in Astana. President Tokayev was not the only Head of State to visit our Headquarters. Just last month, we had the honour of welcoming H.E. President Thongloun Sisoulith of the Lao PDR, who expressed his country’s aspiration to become a CICA Member State.
Over two decades, the Secretariat has grown together with CICA itself – as you can see for yourselves in the commemorative publication Two Decades of the CICA Secretariat.
We marked the anniversary here by bringing together executive structures of regional organizations from across Asia to discuss how our institutions can work more closely together, which resulted in a meaningful report.
The credit for all these achievements belongs to the Member States. I wish to reiterate my gratitude to all CICA Member States for the confidence they continue to place in CICA. I am also thankful to CICA Observer States and all our partners and friends for sustaining the spirit of dialogue and inclusiveness.
Allow me to add a few words on a more personal note.
For the past six years, I have had the privilege of sharing this remarkable journey with the diplomatic corps in Astana. I sincerely thank you all and some of your predecessors for trust, friendship and support.
As we are approaching the Baku Summit, CICA will soon welcome a new Secretary General. I have no doubt that you will receive him or her with the same openness, friendship and support that you have so generously extended to me.
I also wish to express my deepest appreciation to my dream team, the CICA Secretariat staff, for their professionalism, commitment and countless hours of work – much of it unseen by others.
And finally, I owe some debt of gratitude to my family. They have lived through my constant travels, long days and too many occasions when duty kept me away from home. I am profoundly grateful for their patience, understanding and unwavering support which made it possible for me to give CICA the time and energy it demanded.
And before I conclude, one final and pleasant note. Today happens to be the birthday of H.E. President Emomali Rahmon, so the Embassy of Tajikistan has kindly marked the occasion by treating us to traditional Tajik plov. I warmly thank H.E. Ambassador Khairullo Ibodzoda for this generous gesture of hospitality.
My dear guests, I invite you to taste the wines of Azerbaijan granted by the Chairmanship.
Happy CICA Day!
Thank you.
