The focus of the international agenda shifts to Central Asia as Kazakhstan will be hosting the 6th Conference on Confidence Building Measures and Interaction in Asia (CICA) summit in October 2022.
The event is planned for this year in the capital city Nur-Sultan that will be held from October 12-13. Since the year of Independence in 1991, Kazakhstan, as well as the Central Asian region as a whole, has begun to attract more attention from the international community.
The region, not only rich in mineral resources but also pursuing a balanced and multi-vector foreign policy, aroused the interest of all world powers. Seeing the vast potential of Central Asia, including due to its geographical proximity to Afghanistan, the leading international actors have established mutually beneficial platforms for deepening cooperation with these countries.
In particular, today there are a number of dialogue platforms initiated between individual countries and Central Asia: “Central Asia – India”, “Central Asia – Japan”, “Central Asia – USA”, “Central Asia – EU”, etc.
The most active and respected political and economic terms are the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Conference on Confidence Building Measures and Interaction in Asia (CICA), in the cultural and humanitarian dimension – the Congress of World and Traditional Religions and others.
A particularly increased focus on Central Asia is especially felt in 2022, the year of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries of the region and their diplomatic relations with other states.
Thus, since the beginning of this year, the online Summit “Central Asia – India” (January 27), the online Summit “Central Asia – China” (January 25), and the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan (September 16) with the participation of the leaders of these countries were held.
The proposal to convene the CICA, expressed by the First President of Kazakhstan, N Nazarbayev at the 47th session of the UN General Assembly in October 1992, has today been transformed into an association with 27 member-participants and 14 observers (including the UN and the OSCE), with all the elements and attributes of an international organization.
It is noteworthy that this Summit, to be held in the year of the 30th anniversary of the CICA and to which the leaders of all participants and observers, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are invited, should become an important milestone in the consolidation of the countries of the region with the world community in the face of modern challenges and threats.
To date, about half of the invited leaders have confirmed their participation.
It is important to stress that the former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee attended the 1st CICA Summit in July 2002 in Kazakhstan.