Speech of Mr. Jandos Asanov, TURKPA Secretary General in the Fourth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA)

First of all allow me to congratulate the People’s Republic of China for assumption of the role of the CICA Chairmanship and express a firm belief that China, as the CICA chair, will make valuable contributions to the substantial advancement towards shared goals and objectives of the Conference on Interaction and

Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

I am honoured to participate at the summit also as the person who wa professionally linked with CICA in capacity of the first Executive Director of the CICA Secretariat during the period of 2006-2008 and I warmly recall my tenure at the CICA Secretariat.

The idea on convening a conference that deals with creation of pan-Asian security structure was, for the first time, proposed by H.E. President of the Kazakhstan Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev in1992, at the the United Nations General Assembly. The moving spirit behind this initiative was the aspiration to set up an efficient and acceptable structure for ensuring peace and security in Asia – immensely huge continent and a vast region where the centre of gravity of the globe’s economic might is shifting.

Today President Xi Jinping, while stressing the need for sustainable security in Asia, cited a chinese proverb saying that for a tree to grow tall it must have strong roots.

There may be still a long way ahead for achieving the cherished goals of CICA. However, currently CICA has established itself as unique international platform, which brings together twenty six Asian countries and carries out confidence and security building measures in various areas. The regular activities of CICA have enabled accumulation of substantial experts’ potential that paves way to construction in future of a security structure that covers all the parts of Asia.

With the rise of security challenges in the Asian continent, CICA’s activities deserve particular attention. I would like to reaffirm that Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries is a forum for regional partnership sharing common objectives pursued by the CICA. It is worthy to emphasize that all TurkPA member countries are also CICA Member States, and on this basis our organization supports establishing constructive relationships with CICA. Active participation in each other’s activities will pave way for result oriented interaction between the two organizations.

Availing myself of this opportunity I would like to express my sincere thanks to Ambassador ÇinarAldemir for his tireless efforts as the Executive Director of CICA. I would also like to extend my sincere congratulations to the incoming Executive Director Ambassador Gong Jianwei. I am confident that his vast knowledge and experience will contribute to the better coordination of efforts among the CICA member-states.

While concluding my speech I would like once again to express my firm belief that CICA’s activities will further grow and expand under the Chinese Chairmanship. I express my sincere thanks to the hosts for excellent arrangement and splendid hospitality.