Embassy of Kazakhstan

 
Kazakhstan
News Bulletin
Released by the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the United States of America

Special Issue No 12, August 27, 2008

CICA Ministers gather in Almaty to discuss
urgent international issues, security in the region

On August 25 Foreign Ministers from the member countries of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) initiated by Kazakhstan gathered for the third time in Almaty, the country’s former capital.

The meeting adopted the Protocol on amendments to the CICA Secretariat agreement, Resolution of the third meeting of CICA Foreign Ministers, Declaration of the Foreign Ministers as well as a number of memoranda between the CICA secretariat and a whole range of international organizations thus completing the Conference’s years-long institutional build up.
“The third meeting of the CICA Foreign Ministers is completed. We believe that the meeting was conducted in a very constructive way. Jordan Hashemite Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates joined the Conference as full members, and Qatar was approved as an observer,” Kazakh Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin said at a briefing after the event.

Now, the Conference’s member states are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Jordan, Mongolia, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE and Uzbekistan, the observer countries being Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Ukraine, the United States and Vietnam. The UN, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the League of Arab States also participate in CICA meetings.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a keynote speaker at the meeting, said that today the Conference member states face multiple challenging tasks and the world community should direct every possible effort to the struggle against international terrorism, religious extremism, organized crime, drug trafficking and illegal migration.

President Nazarbayev paid particular attention to Afghanistan, Iraq and the conflict in South Ossetia. Besides, according to the Kazakh President, it is crucial to address the situation evolving around Iran’s nuclear program. Financial crisis, surge of oil and food prices are other important challenges which will determine the global political landscape in the nearest future, President Nazarbayev said.

“Unfortunately, many hot spots of instability and tension still remain in Asia. The situation in Afghanistan is still a reason for great concern. This suffering country has become one of the largest centers of international drug industry, which supports around a third of annual turnover of the “terrorist economy”, Nazarbayev stressed reminding that Kazakhstan has already adopted a program of economic aid to Afghanistan to construct roads, schools, hospitals and provide training for local specialists. “It is gratifying to see that CICA member states have also initiated a plan to render economic aid to Afghanistan as a member of our forum. I call upon everyone to support this initiative”, the President declared.

The Kazakh leader expressed his grave concern over the situation in South Ossetia as well.

“[The use of military force] has seriously undermined the potential for political and legal resolution of this ethno-territorial problem, and now the consequences are unpredictable not only for the Caucasian region. One of our priorities is the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid. Kazakhstan is already providing material support to the suffering population. It is obvious that it will take a long and uneasy way to find mutually acceptable solutions after the South Ossetian events”.

“The world community should undertake effective measures to normalize the situation in Caucasus and ensure peace in the region”, Nursultan Nazarbayev emphasized.

President Nazarbayev also suggested that Turkey should be elected as the next CICA President. “The time has come to select a candidate for the next Presidency. We propose electing one of the active CICA participants – Turkey,” Nazarbayev said.

Kazakhstan has been holding the rotating CICA Presidency since 2002 and its term will end in 2010.

In his turn, Turkey’s Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek said that if his country was chosen as CICA’s next President, it would benefit from Kazakhstan’s experience and apply its best efforts to advance the Conference.

News Bulletin of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Contact person: Zhanbolat Ussenov
Tel.: 202-232-5488 ext 104; Fax: 202-232-5845
E-mail:zhan@kazakhembus.com
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