Official Statements:

Statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan H.E. Dr M.Tazhin at the Solemn Session of the CICA Senior Officials Meeting on the Occasion of the 15th Anniversary of the CICA Forum (17 October 2007, Almaty)

Distinguished participants of the Meeting,

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!

Secure, predictable and prosperous world is the ideal that the mankind has strived for throughout its entire history. Having created the League of Nations in the last century followed by the United Nations, the world community believed that it undertook a decisive step in this direction. Yet, this has not liberated the world from bloodshed of wars, regional conflicts and hawkish rhetoric. And in the new century maintenance of stability and security continues to remain one of the most acute issues of humanity.

For Asia, where the ‘old’ conflicts remain and more than half of the world’s population lives, where the lack of confidence hasn’t been removed yet and where any kind of regional security structure whatsoever was not present for a long time, this is especially true. It is not a secret that the roots of interstate, ethnic, confessional and socio-economic problems of our continent originate from the colonial past, and are further aggravated in the environment of globalization and increased competition.

It is evident that ensuring stability and prevention of conflicts in Asia is possible only through creation of the effective security infrastructure based on the principles of confidence, cooperation and good-neighborliness. Practically all of our nations share a similar saying for a reason: “A good neighbor is closer than a distant relative.”

This is why the proposal that had been initiated by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan H.E. Nursultan Nazarbaev 15 years ago at the UN Headquarters to convene the Conference on Confidence Building Measures in Asia received positive feedback and support of many Asian countries and nations. In his recent address at the 62nd UN General Assembly session, Kazakhstan’s leader underlined that “time had proved the relevance of the CICA process within the framework of which the political dialogue of Asian states is taking up the pace.”

In viewing the CICA process from today’s perspective, we may note that through joint efforts we managed to not only launch the CICA process but also to achieve concrete results in creating the foundation for regional security.

Today, CICA unites 18 states that occupy 90% of the Asian continent’s territory. Recently, the Kingdom of Thailand and Republic of Korea have joined the Forum. It is expected that next year the Kingdom of Jordan and, possibly, other regional states, will become full-fledged members of the Forum. This is the evidence of the growth of authority of the Conference as a structure covering the entire continent.

The establishment of the International Secretariat became a milestone of the CICA’s development. Special Working Groups are successfully functioning by providing expert opinion, consulting, ensuring exchange of views; the Committee of Senior Officials meets regularly. In our view, all these activities are important for the CICA process’ institutional building and shaping its organizational, functional and political structure.

No one questions now that the attractive and unique feature of the CICA is in its spirit and format of the Forum, which became a common platform for comparison of viewpoints and generating ideas on acute issues of the Asian continent’s life.

The Forum is entering a crucial period in its development when its practical value in providing security in the region should be fully revealed. We have no doubt in the Forum’s potential and are confident in active involvement of all partners within the CICA in achieving its main strategic goal which is building the multilateral mechanism of confidence and stability in Asia. Adoption of the CICA Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures creates all necessary conditions for this. For the first time in the history of the Asian continent such large scaled document that envisages multilateral cooperation in various areas has been elaborated.

A step-by-step activity in creating structural foundation to security in Asia, that had started from simple steps, is being carried out. An example of such activity is the interaction in economic, environmental and humanitarian dimensions and in countering new challenges and threats. As saying goes: “It is better to lit up a single candle than to constantly grumble in the darkness.”

I will remind that in Bangkok one of the CICA’s most important documents, namely, Cooperative Approach to Implementation of Confidence Building Measures was adopted. With this, the practical implementation of projects directed at the enhancement of multilateral cooperation and detailed work guided by the CICA Catalogue, has been launched. Kazakhstan, as the CICA’s Coordinator in the humanitarian dimension, has developed the Concept and Plan of Actions in this field, which were recommended for approval at today’s session. Availing myself of this opportunity, I would like to express our appreciation to the Russian Federation, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Korea, Islamic Republic of Iran, Republic of Azerbaijan and Republic of Tajikistan, which became Coordinator-states of various programs of the Forum. We hope that other participating states will also assume similar functions.

Thus, the activity in the framework of the CICA will be simultaneously carried out on several projects. This will enable us to identify the contours of practical implementation of the CICA’s main documents by the 2008 CICA Ministerial Meeting.

We call for speedy implementation of provisions of the Cooperative Approach that will allow reaching the next CICA Summit with concrete results.

Distinguished colleagues,

The role and importance of regional organizations constantly grows in the contemporary world. A number of international structures that are similar in their spirit and pursuance of common objectives operate in the Eurasian space. In our view, it would be quite useful for the CICA to set up partnership relations with such organizations as the SCO, EurAsEC, OSCE, ASEAN, ACD, ECO, APEC and SAARC.

The CICA, as an open Forum, does not compete with these organizations and, therefore, could act as a liaison within the common system of regional security maintenance. We are confident that effective counter-measures against the contemporary threats require a coordinated effort of all Asian states as well as an increase in the output from the work of existing multilateral structures and mechanisms of cooperation.

Afghanistan continues to be one of the regional areas of instability that causes concern of the entire international community. All of us are interested in the speedy transition of life in this long-suffering country to peaceful track and restoration of its ruined economy. In our view, in this situation the CICA could come up with an initiative of providing reasonable economic assistance to Afghanistan, as a participant of the Conference, by all the participating states. Undoubtedly, the stabilization of situation in this country would affect the common climate of security in our part of the world in a decisive manner.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me thank you for your participation in this solemn jubilee session and the high level of support of the CICA process. Let me also express confidence that through our joint efforts we will reach the common goal that binds all of us together – stable and secure Asia.

In conclusion, please, accept my sincere congratulations on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of our Forum and wishes of successful and fruitful work.

Thank you for the attention.