Kazakhstan, Astana, Sept. 12 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
As a host country to the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), Kazakhstan intends to move the secretariat of the organisation from Almaty to Astana, Kazakh Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov said at the opening of a jubilee session and fourth meeting of Foreign Ministers of the CICA member states today.
"As a host country we plan to move the secretariat from Almaty to Astana to ensure closer cooperation with the embassies of the CICA member states," Kazykhanov said.
He recalled that the secretariat of the organisation has been based in Kazakhstan since 2006.
A jubilee session and fourth meeting of CICA foreign ministers has started at the Palace of Independence in Astana today.
The twentieth anniversary of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's proclamation at the UN General Assembly to convene the CICA will be marked on Oct. 5.
According to the Almaty Act as of 2002, the CICA operates on the basis of a consensus, with voluntary, gradual and convenient principles for all participants. The CICA Secretariat is located in Almaty.
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 and Republic of Korea.
The U.S, Japan, Ukraine, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar, Bangladesh, the Philippines and the United Nations, the Arab League and the OSCE have an observer status.