SHUSHA, Azerbaijan, October 10. Two states have expressed a desire to obtain observer status in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), CICA Secretary General Kairat Sarybay told reporters, Trend reports.
"CICA is not a private club. We are an open organization. All countries whose territories are at least partially in Asia can join the organization. As of today, we have 28 member states, but that is not all, as there are a number of other Asian states that act as observers," he said.
According to him, some of the observer countries may become full members in the future.
"Those countries that do not yet have any relations with CICA are now showing interest in the organization. As of today, there are two more states that want to get observer status. So, the process of expansion is ongoing. At the very beginning of the process, in 2002, the organization had 16 member states, including Azerbaijan, and today there are already 28 of us. We see that the CICA process is gaining more and more popularity," he added.
CICA is an international forum uniting the states of the Asian continent that aims to strengthen relations and cooperation between Asian and Eurasian states in order to ensure stability and security in the region.
The first CICA summit was held in 2002.
During the summit in October 2022, it was announced that CICA would start transforming into a regional organization.