June 29, 2010
E. Akman
Officials from nearly 40 countries gathered in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 7, 2010, for the Third Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). During the conference, Turkey assumed the CICA presidency from Kazakhstan for the term of 2010 to 2012. It is the first time a country other than Kazakhstan, which founded CICA, will head the organization.
“Turkey possesses unique historic, political and cultural experience to advance this extremely complex process of building confidence and promoting the Asian cooperation,” noted Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. “I am sure that the Republic of Turkey will add great momentum to the strengthening and further development of our Conference.”
From its inception, the founders of CICA envisioned it as an organization modeled after the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe but with a focus on Asia. It is, like OSCE, a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation and promoting peace, openness, mutual trust, security and stability in Asia. The forum brings together countries from different cultural dimensions to provide for a wide variety of discussions aimed at increasing security and trust on the Asian continent.
With 23 member states representing 90 percent of the geography and population of Asia – Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan — 10 observing states and institutions (such as the United States, United Nations, and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), CICA has the potential to lay the foundation for the much needed regional stability.
At a recent forum on CICA at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan and Kazakh Ambassador Erlan Idrissov both spoke of the importance of the regional cooperation organization. [A summary of the event can be found here.]
“If CICA didn’t exist, we would have to invent it,” Ambassador Tan remarked at the forum, citing the critical role the organization plays in building security in the region through economic, human and environmental initiatives and by laying a foundation for confidence building among disparate states that are themselves sometimes in conflict. Indeed, in 2004, CICA adopted The Catalogue of Confidence-Building Measures, a valuable tool to promote better understanding between member states.
“We in Asia sleep under one blanket but see different dreams,” noted Ambassador Idrissov at the CSIS event, adding that CICA is filling a security void in the Asian region that will ensure that “the dreams are benign and not nightmares.”
The theme of the Turkish CICA Chairmanship is “Enhanced Political and Security Dialogue in Asia: Key to Elaborating Cooperative Approaches to Security.” The Turkish Chair will work steadfastly to promote the concept of indivisible and cooperative security in Asia through the process of enhanced dialogue and strive for achieving consensus. Turkey will support the continuation of the existing projects of cooperation in not only military and political dimensions, but also in the fields of trade, economy, environment, disaster relief, transportation, energy and cultural exchange.
Furthermore, in the joint declaration issued at the end of their summit in Istanbul, all CICA member states agreed to work together to:
enhance co-operation through elaborating multilateral approaches towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia;
eradicate the menace of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations;
combat illicit drug production and trafficking;
promote trade and economic cooperation for the prosperity and stability in Asia;
cooperate on all issues relating to environment;
prevent the proliferation and eventual elimination of weapons of mass destruction;
develop measures to address humanitarian issues; and
promote mutual respect, understanding and tolerance in the relations among civilizations.
CICA is still a work in progress that doesn’t intend to compete with other international, regional or sub-regional organizations. Rather, it aims to play a complementary role by providing a platform for political dialogue and encouraging clos
er cooperation in every field among its members.