Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia

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Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is an inter-governmental security forum in Asia which was initiated by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1992.

In 1996, seventeen states participated in the conference and drafted the basic document. The first CICA summit was held in 2002. In 2006, the second CICA summit decided to accept South Korea as its 18th member state.

CICA Member States include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, as well as the Palestinian National Authority.

The United Nations, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Indonesia, Japan, Ukraine, and the United States are observers.

[edit] 2002 Summit

The first summit of the CICA was held in 2002. The idea was proposed by Kazakhstan at the end of the Cold War and at the time of shifting geopolitics, provided a timely opportunity for the Asian nations to address modern challenges to the international peace and stability and set out the vision to tackle them.

The fledgling forum's main purpose of bringing peace to all, including bringing together seemingly irreconcilable countries and interests, - it unites India and Pakistan, Iran, Palestine and Israel, among others, - was immediately put to a real life test.

The gathering, taking place amid heightened tensions in South Asia and elsewhere, provided a unique occasion for leaders of India and Pakistan to sit in the same room and to hear each other speak directly for the first time in five months.

The meeting also became a venue for intensive international mediation in Indian-Pakistani relations, with presidents of Kazakhstan, Russia and China aiming to avert the collision through statements and bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

The current Indian-Pakistani dispute, drawing the spotlight of the world's attention to Almaty, provided the background for laying the foundations for the first security organization in Asia.

The 16 nations signed the Almaty Act, establishing the CICA and pledging to work "towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia."

The Act was signed by Chairman of the Administration of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, President of China Jiang Zemin, Prime Minister of India Atal Behari Vajpayee, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akayev, President of Mongolia Natsagiin Bagabandi, President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Turkey Ahmet Necdet Sezer, and President of Tajikistan Imomali Rakhmonov. Signatories from other CICA members included the prime ministers of Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, a deputy prime minister of Israel, as well as special high-level envoys from Egypt, Iran, and the Palestinian National Authority.

Ten more nations, including the United States, have observer status in the new forum, as do a number of international organizations, such as the UN, the OSCE and the Arab League.

The CICA summit was convened at the initiative of President Nazarbayev, first proposed at the UN General Assembly in 1992. The summit builds on the results of a decade-long effort of experts and foreign ministers of the member states who in 1999 adopted the Declaration on the Principles Guiding Relations among the CICA states.

In the final Almaty Act, the 16 leaders said that the CICA process presents "new opportunities for cooperation, peace and security in Asia" and "will guide us towards a better future, which our peoples deserve." They declared their "determination to form in Asia a common and indivisible area of security, where all states peacefully coexist, and their peoples live in conditions of peace, freedom and prosperity, and confident that peace, security and development complement, sustain and reinforce each other."

The leaders agreed to hold summits every four years, while the foreign ministers are to meet every two years. There are also provisions allowing for special meetings and summits to be convened at the consensus at other times. The committee of senior officials will keep up the organizational work and will meet annually.

In another major development, the leaders adopted the CICA Declaration on Eliminating Terrorism and Promoting Dialogue among Civilizations, condemning "all forms and manifestations of terrorism, committed no matter when, where or by whom," and declaring their commitment to cooperation with each other and other nations in combating terrorism.