Kazakhstan, Astana, Sept. 10 / Trend D.Mukhtarov /
Anniversary session and the fourth meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the CICA, will be held in Astana on September 12, Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Altai Abibullayev said at a news briefing on Monday.
He said that October 5 marks the 20th anniversary since the proclamation by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev of initiative to convene the CICA from the UN General Assembly platform.
The Head of State will open jubilee session in Astana.
Abibullaev said the outcome of the session will be adoption of a declaration of the anniversary meeting of ministers, which is designed to give new impetus to activities of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.
In accordance with the Almaty Act 2002, the CICA operates on the basis of consensus, voluntariness, gradualness and comfort for all participants. CICA Secretariat is located in Almaty.
On the basis Catalogue of Confidence measures adopted in 2004, cooperation in the military-political, economic, environmental, and human dimensions, and in the fight against new challenges and threats is built.
"The ministers will discuss the status and prospects of the CICA. Exchange of views on topical issues, such as the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, Afghanistan, non-proliferation, combating transnational crime, as well as the priorities of economic cooperation within the CICA is planned," Abibullayev said.
He said the meeting will be attended by delegations from 24 Member States of the CICA.
Foreign ministers of the eight states and heads of 14 international organizations are invited among guests.
Until 2014, the chairman of the Council of Foreign Ministers of CICA is Turkey. From 2014 the presidency will go to China.
The forum is scheduled to host bilateral meetings between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Kazykhanov with the foreign ministers of several countries.
CICA includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Vietnam, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, the United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Republic of Korea. The observers are the United States, Japan, Ukraine, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar, Bangladesh, the Philippines, as well as the United Nations, the Arab League and the OSCE.