Among the participants of the event were foreign ministers of the CICA and representatives of several international organizations.
In his speech, President Nursultan Nazarbayev noted that on October 5, 1992, speaking from the rostrum of the 47-th session of the UN General Assembly, he proposed to form on the Asian continent an interstate dialogue platform for the elaboration of confidence building measures in various areas of cooperation.
"Today, two decades later, the CICA has turned into an effective forum of multilateral diplomacy, which now includes 24 countries occupying over 90 percent of the Asia’s territory, where a half the population of our planet live. I express gratitude to all countries for their support of this initiative, for their membership in the Organization over these 20 years and for their contribution to the development of the Organization. Also let me congratulate you on the upcoming 20th anniversary of the CICA and thank all participants for their continued support and invaluable contribution to raising the efficiency of our forum,” the President said.
President Nazarbayev emphasized that over the recent years immense work had been done and significant results have been achieved. Over the past two years, Vietnam, Iraq, Bahrain, and Cambodia have become full members of the CICA while Bangladesh and the Philippines joined it as observer countries.
“The Asian continent is turning into the main area of global international relations of the 21st century, both in terms of its economic potential and the degree of influence on world politics. Today, the countries in the region produce more than 57% of global GDP. However, unfortunately, unresolved inter-state problems related to territorial disputes are exacerbating in Asia. At the same time, the Asian region is also an area with the highest concentration of states which possess nuclear weapons and actively increase their military potential,” the head of state highlighted.
President Nazarbayev emphasized that it is obvious that it will be difficult to make significant progress in addressing global security issues without strengthening trust among Asian countries.
In this regard, there is a need to make maximum use of Forum’s potential for adoption of joint measures on security and cooperation in Asia.
“Kazakhstan is one of the leaders of the movement for nuclear-free world. We have made historical contribution to this process, having closed the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site and given up nuclear weapons, which has been in the ownership of Kazakhstan. We call on all countries to adopt the Universal Declaration of a Nuclear Weapons Free World. We understand that such a complicated issue requires time to solve it. But we should begin this process for the sake of the humanity. Kazakhstan's initiative, launched at the Global Nuclear Security Summits in Washington and Seoul, to create an international nuclear fuel bank in Kazakhstan under the auspices of the IAEA has been generally developed,” the President said.
The President of Kazakhstan emphasized that there are various multilateral regional and trans-regional formations functioning in the Asian-Pacific region.
“At the same time, unlike Europe with its developed organizations in the filed of security, Asia still does not have a system of a continent-wide scale, like the OSCE. In this context, the CICA is becoming more relevant as an institutional instrument for maintaining security and cooperation in the region. The Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations between CICA Member States, the Almaty Act and the CICA Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures contain the political and legal basis for the Asian security system. The CICA member states worked out the joint vision on key security topics in the world and in the region. We hope that the Conference has the potential to become a full-fledged organization.
In this regard, the President expressed the hope that certain results will be achieved by the fourth Summit of the CICA to establish the organization, including the improvement of the status of the Head of the Secretariat of the CICA from the Executive Director to the level of the Secretary General. Besides, the President of Kazakhstan proposed to consider the issue on establishment of the Standing Committee of the CICA, with the introduction of corresponding amendments to the existing Rules of Procedure. There is also a need to continue and develop cooperation between CICA and the OSCE, which could transform into the creation of a common platform of the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security. Moreover, similar proposals on cooperation with CICA are received from the OSCE.
“Today, at a time when Asia is experiencing rapid development, we are particularly requires a comprehensive and effective Institute of security and cooperation. In this context, the CICA should take a worthy place in the new global security architecture. It is natural that effectiveness, efficiency and development of the forum depend on active participation of every member of our Organization, each of the state which you represent. I hope that our joint active work will make our organization efficient and effective. I am convinced that there will no any unsettled problems in Asia, if we match them against efficient cooperation and constructive trust between the member states. This understanding inspires us with hope and strengthens our faith in the bright future of our sub-continent and the whole world,” Nursultan Nazarbayev stressed.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu noted that the 20th anniversary of the organization is a historic moment for the CICA process.
"We remember that 20 years ago, when President Nursultan Nazarbayev first announced the idea of CICA at the UN General Assembly it was just a desire. Today the CICA is a trans-regional organization, covering a large part of the population of the world and includes 24 member states and 8 observer states. We witness that the CICA is an example of how the initiative to ensure regional security may become a reality, and Turkey is proud of holding the chairmanship of this Organization. We thank Kazakhstan for the leadership in the process of the CICA and intensive work carried out to organize this anniversary session.
