Ladies and gentlemen,
In my opening statement I have stressed the historic importance of the decision of the 6th CICA Summit to launch a structured, inclusive and transparent negotiation process of gradual, incremental and consensus-based transformation of CICA into a full-fledged international regional organization.
In my remarks today I wish to provide a brief retrospective of the transformation initiative, an overview of approaches of CICA Member States to transformation and an outlook on main directions of future work within this process.
Retrospective of the transformation initiative
The proposal to upgrade CICA from a forum into a full-fledged organization was put forward by the Founder of CICA, First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, at the 4th CICA Ministerial Meeting in 2012 and reiterated at the 4th CICA Summit in 2014 in Shanghai.
In 2015 Kazakhstan circulated a concept paper on the establishment of an international organization with a working title Organization for Security and Development in Asia (OSDA) on the basis of CICA. Discussions at the CICA Special Working Group (SWG) and written comments of Member States all together indicated to the wish to take more time to study the proposal.
In 2019, at the 5th CICA Summit in Dushanbe, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev encouraged all CICA partners to join efforts to increase the effectiveness and international competitiveness of the forum. President Tokayev stated that CICA should represent and defend its interests at the global level, and therefore we need its step-by-step, gradual transformation into a full-fledged regional organization. He noted that all necessary conditions have been created for institutional development of CICA, a legal framework has been developed, and its permanent structures are functioning.
Therefore, transformation of CICA has become the strategic priority of the current Chairmanship of Kazakhstan. During 2021 the Chairmanship, with the assistance of the CICA Secretariat, held intensive consultations with Member States. Also, positions of Member States expressed earlier in 2015-2016 were thoroughly examined.
Very fruitful and thought-provoking thematic discussion at the Senior Officials Committee (SOC) meeting on 23 June 2021 on the theme “Growing role of Asia in international affairs and related adaptation of CICA” demonstrated strong and overwhelming support to further strengthening of CICA.
On this basis, in August 2021 the Chairmanship and the Secretariat have developed conceptual approaches to transformation, which were broadly discussed and supported by Member States. Consensus was reached at the 6th CICA Ministerial Meeting in Astana in October 2021 on the text “We support the proposal by the CICA Chairman-in-Office to hold structured discussions on transformation of CICA into an international organization for regional security and cooperation in Asia and will study the concept of transformation.”
As part of these structured discussions, the Chair mobilized the “Track Two” of our forum - the newly institutionalized CICA Think Tank Forum (TTF). At the end of 2021, the TTF held an expert discussion on transformation of CICA and broadly supported the conceptual approaches of the Kazakh Chairmanship.
The SOC at its meeting on 30 March 2022 extensively discussed the Chair’s “Concept of transformation of CICA into an international organization for regional security and cooperation in Asia”, which was issued on 16 February 2022. General support was expressed to proposals of the Chairmanship and to the launch of the gradual transformation process at the upcoming 6th CICA Summit.
Very detailed deliberations among Member States on transformation took place in the second half of 2022 during their collective work on the main outcome document of the 6th Summit which eventually resulted in the adoption of the historic Astana Statement on CICA Transformation.
Preliminary views of Member States on transformation
I will outline some most notable positions expressed, which have shaped both the substantive elements and the methodology of the transformation process, starting from four key aspects of the Chairmanship’s concept.
First, why transformation is needed? The main objectives of transformation are strengthening the global role of Asia and moving to a new level of cooperation among CICA Member States.
Second, is CICA ready for transformation? Yes, indeed. CICA has become a mature platform for political dialogue and interaction on confidence building, and it has acquired all the necessary attributes of an international organization and de-facto functions as such.
Third, how to pursue these goals? The main principle is to take gradual and incremental approach to the transformation process, preserving and building on the agreed goals, objectives and fundamental principles of CICA, primarily the consensus principle of decision-making and voluntary participation.
Fourth, what we should do to transform CICA? The Chair proposed a clear course of action – a vector of future reforms in specific areas, which later, in the course of 2023, have become the basis for the Road Map for CICA Transformation.
This Chair’s vision was fully supported by the Member States. At the same time, the following interesting views were expressed in the course of deliberations on transformation of CICA. I believe these ideas of Member States can serve as good food-for-thought for discussion among CICA Think Tank Forum members.
Calls were made by some Member States for reviewing CICA’s priority areas of cooperation, such as shifting CICA’s focus to addressing common economic development challenges and cooperation in the socio-economic and humanitarian spheres. In the situation of increased divisiveness on the global arena, there are opinions that CICA should focus more on “positive agenda” and reconsider the balance between security issues and other areas of cooperation on CICA agenda.
A proposal was made to explore if the current CICA emphasis on confidence building measures (CBM) should be preserved or focus should be shifted to other areas, such as new challenges, development issues or specific thematic areas, with a view to achieving new quality of cooperation within CICA. However, most Member States continue to strongly advocate for preserving and further strengthening the core area of CICA activities – CBM implementation and the CICA Catalogue of CBMs.
In the same context, broadly supported view was the need to strengthen the practical component of the CICA platform and to enhance tangible output from CICA for the benefit of Member States. As a practical measure to that end, the CICA Fund was established by the 6th CICA Summit on 13 October 2022. Strong views were expressed that the issue of funding of CICA activities by all Member States must be considered as part of transformation.
Interestingly, an opinion was expressed by one Member State to consider expanding the geographic scope of CICA to Eurasia, but most Member States strongly insist on keeping CICA’s geography within Asia.
Almost all Member States supported the proposal of the Kazakh Chairmanship to rename CICA as the first step of the transformation process already at the 6th Summit. Some Member State proposed options for a new name, such as “Organization for Interaction and Cooperation in Asia (OICA)”, which was broadly supported.
There was indeed the unanimous support of all Member States to further institutional strengthening of CICA. Very broadly shared view was that CICA is already an organization because of its structure, working methods, foundational documents and the whole body of work done over the past 30 years. Therefore, the Member States unanimously “recognized that CICA has successfully served as an effective multilateral mechanism for interaction, confidence building and cooperation with a mature and permanent institutional structure”.
In culmination of these extensive debates, the 6th CICA Summit adopted the Astana Statement on CICA Transformation, according to which “the process of transforming CICA will pursue the following major goals: defining the overarching areas of our future cooperation and strengthening the organizational and institutional base of our interaction”.
As the first steps in the transformation process, the Summit established the CICA Council of Heads of State or Government, CICA Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the post of CICA Secretary General, and set a task to develop a road map of necessary measures for transformation.
The Summit also adopted a common vision of the Member States of “our Organization as contributing to the dynamic, equitable, comprehensive and balanced economic growth, interaction, social and cultural development of its Member States”. The CICA leaders also decided that they “will strengthen their collective work within our Organization in order to seek joint solutions for common challenges of the twenty first century towards a secure and prosperous region and to pursue peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the UN Charter”.
I am pleased to inform the CICA TTF that the task of the Summit to develop a road map for transformation has been implemented. The draft road map, with eight specific clusters of the forthcoming reforms, has been finalized by the CICA SOC at its last meeting in Astana on 22 August. The document is expected to be endorsed at the informal meeting of the CICA Ministerial Council in New York on 21 September 2023 on the margins of the High-level Week of the UN General Assembly.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The transformation process is defined by the Summit as a “negotiations process”, and the Road Map for CICA Transformation is an “agenda” for these negotiations. It contains an open-ended and non-exhaustive list of topics to discuss, namely eight specific thematic areas which Member States will discuss in detail at a later stage.
These are: elaboration of a CICA charter; improving CBM implementation and exploring future focus areas of cooperation; international status of the Secretariat staff; updating the Rules of Procedure and the Guidelines for External Relations; role and functions of the Secretary General and the Secretariat; budget reform and human resources management reform, including internationalization of the Secretariat.
Outlook for future discussions: ideas and questions
As I stated in my opening speech, yesterday the CICA Think Tank Forum has a special role in the family of CICA bodies and a lot of untapped potential. Its mandate allows it to discuss an unlimited range of issues, and its recommendations can be turned into actions and solutions by CICA governing bodies.
I therefore strongly look forward to future brainstorm sessions in the CICA Thank Tank Forum in support of the Member States’ detailed deliberations on each cluster of transformation. I believe that “Track Two” of our organization, namely our scientists, researchers and analysts united in the framework of the TTF, is an excellent supplement to the political dialogue and expert discussions among government officials of the CICA Member States.
I will now provide you with some food for thought – preliminary ideas which, and I underline - in my personal view, are worth considering under each of transformation clusters.
1. A charter. The Member State which proposed this idea suggested that the charter of CICA or the charter of a future organization created on the basis of CICA, would contain basic principles of the organization, main areas of cooperation and institutional and procedural aspects. Some Member States, which support this idea, believe that we need a legal charter or statute in order to be regarded as an international organization.
However questions arise as to which model of a charter to follow – the UN Charter, statutes of SCO, ASEAN or other organizations? Should we revisit the eight fundamental principles of CICA enshrined in its founding document – Almaty Act of 2002 and the Declaration on the Principles Guiding Relations between Member States of 1999 – our golden heritage? Is it worth rewriting them, considering that commitment to the UN Charter is the main foundation of CICA since its inception? How high is the risk to deviate from the basic principles of consensus and voluntariness, which ensure inclusiveness and flexibility of CICA – its main comparative advantages?
While preserving the consensus rule, is there a room for making decision-making more effective? For example, introducing voting for procedural matters or for high-level appointments, such as Chairmanship, Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General? Or can we use the good practice of other consensus-based organizations, like the OSCE, to use an informal discrete “straw-poll” procedure to facilitate arriving to a single candidate for positions where appointment is made by consensus?
Should we at all put in a new charter the structure of CICA bodies and its decision-making principles and procedures, if all these aspects are already well addressed in the CICA Rules of Procedure, update of which is already envisaged under the transformation process?
Do we really need a legally binding charter or statute for an organization which serves for political dialogue and practical cooperation, does not and should not apply any sanctions or legal actions against its Members, and in which all adopted decisions and documents have a politically, not legally, binding nature?
Why do we need such a legal document if CICA already has such fundamental legal documents as the Statute of the CICA Secretariat (including Financial Rules), Convention on the Privileges and Immunities, as well as the Host Country Agreement with Kazakhstan? Isn’t this enough to serve as a legal basis for our organization? And the main question – do we really need a legal charter in order to be considered a full-fledged international organization?
2. Future focus areas of cooperation and CBMs. It is indeed clear that implementation of CBMs is the main mandate of our organization and the CICA Catalogue of CBMs comprehensively covers all areas of cooperation in all five dimensions. Should Member States wish to engage in new areas, this can always be done by expanding the Catalogue, as happened in 2021, or by the adoption of separate thematic documents, as need arises. Do the focus areas of cooperation need to be fixed in a charter of an organization, which is designed to be flexible and adaptable to dynamically changing world?
Regarding the forms of cooperation – current CICA CBMs by definition can be pursued in any form of activity – from visits, seminars and trainings to exchange of sensitive information and project activities. The current modalities of CBM implementation enable Member States to do everything they wish to achieve CICA objectives. These modalities were recently systematized and renewed, and almost agreed by the SOC on 22 August 2023. I hope this framework document will be adopted by the Ministerial Council soon and will serve as a very useful guideline.
Furthermore, CICA has already a very good toolkit of permanent institutions – advisory bodies on specific themes convening on a regular basis. This is de-facto a way of smooth transition from sporadic implementation of selected CBMs to continuous, systematic and long-term cooperation among Member States. And nothing prevents Member States from creating new permanent bodies.
Last but not least, CICA’s mandate, particularly the Catalogue of CBMs, already enables Member States to implement project activities in any area. To facilitate elaboration and funding of projects, the CICA Fund was created by the 6th Summit in 2022. And the Secretariat is here at the disposal of Member States to assist. This brings me to another transformation cluster.
3. Role of the Secretary General and the Secretariat. The mandate and functions of the Secretariat established in its Statute of 2006 are broad enough, but naturally lack description of the current significant component of work of the Secretariat on providing substantive, expert and analytical assistance to Member States in achieving CICA objectives, including but not limited to CBM implementation.
The Secretariat no longer is just an archive and a clearing house for documents and information, and the Secretariat is much more than just a conference services provider. It actually does more, and it does that at the request of Member States and they have much higher expectations from the Secretariat than in 2006.
Under this cluster of transformation it is proposed to recognize and codify this reality - the increased substantive role of CICA’s single executive body. And this would bring CICA in line with the established practice in all other international organizations, where the main task of any executive branch is to substantively assist Member States in achieving the goals of the organization.
When talking about the role of the Secretary General, who is the Chief Administrative Officer of the organization, representative of the Chairmanship, representative of CICA for external partners and head of the Secretariat, legitimate questions arise as to should the SG be a national of the Chairmanship’s country, should his/her term of office coincide with the term of the Chairmanship and should this post be a seconded one?
One of proposals here is to eliminate the existing collision in the rule which establishes a four year-long tenure of the SG and at the same time links this term to the term of the Chairmanship, which may be 2, 4, 6 or even more number of years.
However, the broader question is that shouldn’t the rules for selection and appointment of the SG ensure his/her neutrality vis-a-vis all Member States? Shouldn’t these rules enable long-term planning of Secretariat activities and resources – the basic principle of sound management in any organization? Shouldn’t CICA align its practice with that of all full-fledged international organizations, where there is a clear division of roles between the SG and Chairs, and the SG is equally accountable to all Member States?
4. Budget reform. The key issue and the main condition for the transformation of CICA into a full-fledged international organization is introduction of funding of the CICA budget by all 28 Member States, which is currently funded only by voluntary contributions.
This will bringing the CICA funding system in line with the practice of the UN and other international organizations and guarantee the long-term financial stability of CICA activities and ensure necessary resources to achieve the CICA goals.
But most importantly, such a budget reform will strengthen the ownership and responsibility over the Organization for each Member State on the basis of fair and equitable distribution of the financial burden among all Member States with due account of the level of economic development and capacity to pay and, as result, will ensure the principles of equality and parity.
The Member States did not yet engage in detailed discussion of this matter, but some preferences were already expressed for the application of a UN approach. The best approach could be a simple proportional adjustment of the UN scale of assessment to the membership of CICA, with application of a ceiling and a floor respectively to the most and least developed Member States.
At the same time, in order to preserve and respect CICA’s fundamental principle of voluntariness, which is the unique and precious feature of CICA, this CICA-adjusted UN scale could be considered as and named a “Scale of Minimum Voluntary Contributions”, and it would provide an indication of the lowest amount of contributions expected from each Member State on a voluntary basis.
5. Human resources (HR) management reform, including internationalization of the Secretariat. What else is very needed in CICA is gradual approximation of the HR policy to the UN principles and standards established by the International Civil Service Commission (UN ICSC), or at least to the best practices of other international organizations, including in the field of classification of posts, working conditions and recruitment procedures.
Such reforms are needed for increasing the competitiveness of CICA as an employer and its attractiveness for highly qualified citizens from all Member States, including countries which cannot second, and ultimately for expanding the geographical representation in the Secretariat.
First things to do with regard to the secondment system are: to abolish the requirement of approval of the appointment of secondees by all Member States by consensus. This rule infringes the right of each Member State to have its seconded citizens in the Secretariat and it is inconsistent with HR policies in international organizations. Secondly, to include seconded posts in the Staff Matrix and apply competitive recruitment in case of more than one candidate for one vacancy.
Last but not least, with regard to General/Support Personnel is to categorize posts in accordance with the nature of jobs and divide this category into “International Contracted” professional staff (with grades P1-P5) and “General Service” staff (with grades G1-G7), with subsequent establishment of an appropriate level of remuneration, benefits and entitlements, as close as possible to the UN ICSC standards.
Therefore, an initial step in the HR management reform could be the establishment of a new structure of the Secretariat enabling it to more effectively and efficiently implement its work in all five dimensions of CICA with optimal organization of resources. Such a structure would clearly link all Secretariat tasks and responsibilities with the required roles and functions, and the functions with required jobs and posts of adequate category.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I wish to conclude this list of questions and ideas with the main question to address within the transformation process – where is the unique niche of CICA in the network of multilateral organizations for security and cooperation in Asia?
Thank you for attention.
Xining, Qinghai, China, 29 August 2023
