DUSHANBE, September 12, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- First Deputy Foreign Minister, Mahmoudjon Sobirov, is representing Tajikistan at the 4th meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) that has kicked off in Astana, Kazakhstan today, the Tajik MFA information department reports.    

The meeting is being held under the co-chairmanship of Turkey Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Kazakhstan Foreign Minister Yerzhan Kazykhanov.

A Declaration is expected to be adopted at the end of the meeting, in which 24 member states, 8 observer states and 3 observer international organizations are participating.

6 guest states and 14 guest international organizations have been invited to participate in the meeting.

Prior to the meeting, a Commemorative Session regarding the 20th anniversary of the CICA process is taking place.  Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev is attending the Commemorative Session.

Turkey will hold the CICA Chairmanship until the middle of 2014.

The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is an inter-governmental forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. It is a forum based on the recognition that there is close link between peace, security and stability in Asia and in the rest of the world.

The idea of convening the CICA was first proposed by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev on October 5, 1992, at the 47th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The proposal for convening the CICA was welcomed by a number of Asian States.  During the next seven years, a series of meetings were held among the interested countries to discuss modalities of convening the CICA and draft basic documents.  The first meeting of the CICA Ministers of Foreign Affairs was held on September 14, 1999 with participation of 15 Member States.  The Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations between CICA Member States was adopted at this meeting.  The first CICA summit was held on June 4, 2002 with participation of 16 Member States and Almaty Act, the charter of the CICA, was adopted.  At the second meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs in 2004, CICA Catalogue of Confidence Building Measures and CICA Rules of Procedures were adopted. At the second CICA Summit in 2006, it was decided to admit Thailand and Republic of Korea as new members and to establish a permanent secretariat.  At the third meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in 2008, Jordan and UAE were admitted as new members.  At the third CICA Summit in 2010, Turkey assumed Chairmanship of CICA from the founding Chairman Kazakhstan.  The third Summit also admitted Iraq and Vietnam as new members and adopted the CICA Convention.