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The heads of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) urged its Chairmanship to submit progress reports on the transformation process to the next meetings of the Ministerial Council and the Council of Heads of state or government.
In an official statement released by CICA, the member states congratulated the group on the considerable progress it has achieved in 30 years of evolution. CICA's members met on October 12 and 13 in Astana on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the CICA process. CICA said that they had launched the structured, inclusive and transparent negotiations process of gradual, incremental and consensus-based transformation of CICA into a full-fledged regional international organization. According to the statement, "The process of transforming CICA will pursue the following major goals: defining the overarching areas of our future cooperation and strengthening the organizational and institutional base of our interaction." "We also envision our organization as contributing to dynamic, equitable, comprehensive and balanced economic growth, connectivity, and social and cultural development of its Member States. We will strengthen our collective work within our organization in order to seek joint solutions for our common challenges of the twenty-first century towards a secure and prosperous region and to pursue peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the UN Charter," the statement reads. As the first step of the transformation process, CICA decided that the meeting of heads of state or government (Summit) and the meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Ministerial Meeting) shall henceforth be referred to, respectively, as the Council of Heads of State or Government (Summit) and the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Ministerial Council). The Executive Director of the CICA Secretariat will be referred to as Secretary General. "The Secretariat will submit to the Member States, through the Chairmanship, proposals for amendments to the relevant CICA documents for approval by the respective governing bodies," the statement reads. The Member States request the Chairmanship to make proposals in 2023, with the assistance of the Secretary-General and in close consultation with the member states, on a road map of necessary measures in the transformation process for consideration by the member states. (ANI)
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