Statements and Remarks of CICA Secretary General Ambassador Kairat Sarybay

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Remarks by CICA Executive Director Ambassador Kairat Sarybay at the second “Antalya Diplomacy Forum”, 11-13 March 2022


It is with a great sense of pleasure that I accepted the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye, H.E. Mevlut Cavusoglu to attend the second “Antalya Diplomacy Forum”, which became an important event in the field of foreign policy.

It is also a great honour to address today’s panel “Asia anew: For a sustainable regional growth” along with high-ranking politicians and prominent experts and have a well-rounded exchange of views. This recently set direction is extremely timely and reflects the rapidly increasing status of growing Asia in global affairs.

The international situation is changing dramatically. The balance of power is undergoing serious changes both at the global level and in individual regions of the planet.

We believe that one of the reasons for the unfolding geopolitical situation lies in the rejection of multilateralism as a fundamental concept of international relations.

The military-political and trade-economic protectionism provoke unimaginable developments and the desire to restore the balance of power at any cost.

The lack of political will to find time-consuming but mutually satisfying solutions, has brought the world to this end.

The events of recent days have also reduced the likelihood of a significant and rapid recovery of the world economy, already widely affected by the pandemic. It is now obvious that the economic and political consequences of the events we are currently witnessing will be echoed in every corner of the world.

At the same time, it is well known, that great upheavals offer great opportunities.

Asia, which has been the generator of significant global economic growth over the past 10 years, is well-positioned to continue this trend. Asia's economic growth in 2022, despite the effects of the pandemic, will be about 5.3%. (Central Asian economies will grow by an average of 4.0%, Southeast Asia by 5.1%, the Pacific by 3.8%, the PRC by 5.5%, East Asian nations by 5.1%, India by 7.0%, and South Asia by up to 6.6%)*.[i]

According to McKinsey, “Asia is on the track to top 50 percent of global GDP by 2040 and drive 40 percent of the World’s consumption, representing a real shift in the World’s center of gravity. Asia’s economies will go from participating in the global flows of trade, capital, talent, and innovation to determining their shape and direction.**

We believe that recipe for healing international relations lies in return to multilateralism pursuing the goal of balanced solutions acceptable to all concerned parties which will finally contribute to sustainable peace and security.

Tools for strengthening security in Asia are rooted in the mentality of Asians, based on the values of family and community in the broadest sense of the word.

Accordingly, the integration of national economies and industries, cultivating connectivity through the promotion of interdependent economic growth, free movement of labor resources and interpenetration of labor markets seems as an effective approaches to contribute to strengthen sustainable economic growth in Asia and globally.

Advancing infrastructural, intellectual and digital connectivity for the shared benefits, unite people and motivate the search for reasonable compromises and mutually acceptable solutions.

All this is possible in an environment of dialogue and "hearing" each other's communications by members of the international community.

This year, CICA which currently embraces 27 Member States and19 observers and partners, is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary.

Cooperation in CICA is built on consensus, comprehensive dialogue, tolerance, consistency, equality of nations and respect for sensitiveness.

This sometimes slows down our progress but CICA is proceeding and has proven its competitiveness over 30 years of evolution, during which the CICA family has doubled in size.

Our philosophy aims to expand common ground between 27 Member States through the joint implementation of confidence building measures in              5 broad dimensions. This approach ensures a holistic and comprehensive nature of our activities. We believe that in the course of joint activities, the evolution of Member States’ relations follows an ascending trajectory: from interaction to better understanding, which builds trust and strengthening cooperation that contributes to indivisible security in Asia and globally.

Despite the pandemic, 40 thematic events in the Economic, Environmental, Military-Political, Humanitarian dimensions, and in the field of New Challenges and Threats have been implemented at the CICA platform in 2021 alone.

Analysis of the CICA events of the last year shows that food security, rising food prices and ensuring uninterrupted supply chains caused the most significant interest of 27 member states, which is reasonable for the most populous continent.

Low-cost technologies in terms of water and energy consumption, as well as green technologies based on the use of alternative energy sources and digitalization, have been shared by CICA member states as ways to reduce pricing in food producing industries.

The above issues will remain the focus of attention in the near future, in this regard we propose to consider them as priorities while designing sustainable development strategies.

CICA is on the verge of transformation into a full-fledged Organization for Security in Asia, which it is de jure, having all the necessary attributes: Charter, institutions, policy implementation tools, governing and operational bodies. Six meetings of foreign ministers and five CICA Summits have been held within 30 years of CICA history.

We would like to emphasize the convening and uniting power of CICA which provides platform for 27 member states covering more than 90 percent of Asia with extremely diverse political, economic and socio-cultural systems and backgrounds to gather, express their views, share experience and exchange best practices, joint efforts in mutually beneficial projects.

Apart from the main event of 2022 which is the 6th CICA Summit, this year CICA will hold 4 Senior Officials meetings, several Working and Expert group meetings, session of newly established Council of Eminent Persons, Think-tanks Forum, Financial Summit, Business Council and Business Forum and Youth council sessions. This is not counting a number of seminars and workshops under the Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures which was considerably expanded and updated following the Member States remarks. 

We witness as CICA process keeps gaining new momentum that also corresponds to the growing role of Asia and its driving force in the global affairs. Member States, observers and partners show increasing interest in CICA activities and willing to find suitable paths towards secure and sustainable Asia.

It is very remarkable that new Asian countries are in the process to become CICA full-fledged Members and expand CICA family.                    This fact reflects the attractiveness of our values and goals aimed at enhancing peace and security in Asia and globally.

The power of CICA persuasion lies in respect for diversity and the universality of our values, which fully resonate with the UN Charter.

The current unprecedented negative developments in the global security system confirm high relevance of and  demand for CICA as a multilateral tool to strengthen peace, security and stability in the geographic area of 27 Asian states, due to the following factors.

  1. The main goal of CICA is to build consensus-based multilateral approaches to peace and security, refraining from the threat or use of force - the fundamental principles of multilateralism, as well as from unilateral coercive measures in international relations;
  2. CICA Member States' commitment to the principle of common, comprehensive, cooperative, sustainable, indivisible and equal security, and understanding that security of a state should not be pursued at the expense of security of other states.
  3. The unique geographic scope of CICA and its Member States' specific national positions on the currently ongoing geopolitical divide provide them an opportunity to more actively utilize CICA for ensuring a zone of stability in its geographic area.
  4. CICA's broad geographical scope and comprehensive agenda which embraces five dimensions of security, provides high added value for Member States – parties to other international fora with more narrow membership or mandates. CICA provides such smaller groupings  the possibility of outreach to a broader region covering 27 countries of Asia and benefit from the most broad range of issues addressed by CICA.
  5. CICA is perfectly placed to meet the need for strengthened connectivity in the Asian continent, including stronger economic, financial, and transport links in the CICA region. Today, connectivity in Asia becomes even more acute in light of the newly emerging gaps and breakdowns in the world economic system, which directly affect all CICA Member States.
  6. Overall, CICA provides a unique multilateral platform for pan-Asian dialogue and serves as a very useful addition and/or alternative to Global, Eurasian, Euro-Atlantic, Asia-Pacific or other trans-continental fora and to smaller sub-regional groupings , and at the same time provides a platform for internal Asian dialogue free from direct influence or interference from external actors.

 

Thank you.

 

[i] * ADB Report, https://www.adb.org/ru/news/developing-asia-grow-7-3-2021-even-covid-19-lingers

** McKinsey, Global Institute (2019). The future of Asia. Asian flows and networks are defining the next phase of globalization

 

 

 

 

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