CICA Senior Officials Committee held a meeting

NUR-SULTAN, June 24 (KAZINFORM) - On June 21-23, 2021, at the initiative of Kazakh chairmanship, regular meetings of the Special Working Group (SWG) and the Senior Officials Committee (SOC) of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) were held online, the Kazakh MFA’s press service reports. During the meetings of the SWG and the SOC, member states discussed the issues of further institutional development of the CICA, practical implementation of the CICA Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures, improvement of the legal framework of the Conference, general guidelines for conducting events on implementation of CICA CBMs, etc. The sides also exchanged views on the new role of Asia in the world, global and regional trends, and further prospects for the development of the CICA. Chair of the SOC – First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Shakhrat Nuryshev in his statement noted with satisfaction that there has been a significant intensification of the activities within the CICA. In particular, he mentioned successful meetings of the Board of Business Council and the CICA Youth Council, a series of events within the economic and environmental dimensions, as well as in the field of combating new challenges and threats, including the Conference in the field of epidemiological security. During the SOC meeting it was decided to grant Turkmenistan the CICA observer status. Also, at the meeting a video message was delivered by the UN Under Secretary General for Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov, who pointed out importance of the CICA Action Plan for implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, which is being discussed at the CICA. As a result of the SOC meeting, member states adopted draft of the CICA Council of Eminent Persons for further approval at the 6th CICA Ministerial Meeting, which will be held on October 2021, and approved new co-coordinators in the CBMs in Epidemiological Safety, Public Health and Pharmaceuticals (China and Jordan), Development of Secure and Effective Systems of Transportation Corridors (China), Natural Disaster Management (Bangladesh), and the Human Dimension (China).