CICA: Building New Asia and a New Peaceful World.

Byline: Muhammad Asif Noor

The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) stands as a remarkable multilateral forum, dedicated to promoting peace, security, and stability across the diverse Asian continent. Initiated by the visionary leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, CICA has emerged as a beacon of hope, emphasizing dialogue, cooperation, and confidence-building measures as the building blocks of peaceful world order. The historical background and unique features of CICA help to explore the organization's significant role in reshaping Asia in a new global context.

CICA is committed to inclusivity, consensus-based decision-making, and confidence-building measures. The contributions of CICA in fostering and creating a more harmonious and prosperous Asia are remarkable. It is a platform where nations come together to address shared challenges and work towards a common future of peace and stability. The success of CICA lies in its recognition of the interconnectedness of security and the collective desire for peace, fostering close interactions among both small and significant states in Asia.

Emergence of CICA and Structure President Nursultan Nazarbayev first proposed the concept of CICA during the 47th General Assembly Session of the United Nations in 1992. CICA was born from President Nursultan Nazarbayev's vision for indivisible peace and security for Central Asia and the broader Asian region. With the end of the Cold War, President Nazarbayev recognized the need to transcend past tensions and create a new global setting of peace and stability. However, it took several years for this vision to materialize, and CICA finally held its first conference for Foreign Ministers in 1999, with the participation of 15 member states.

Over time, CICA has grown into a major Asian grouping, with 28 full member states, nine observer states, and five observer international organizations. Notably, countries like China, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, and Japan have joined as observer member states, highlighting the significance and influence of CICA in the Asian region. CICA acknowledges the strong link between peace, stability, and security in Asia and the rest of the world. This notion of peace in Asia as a prerequisite for global peace was a defining principle of Kazakh leadership in the 1990s and continues to hold true today.

The two founding documents of CICA, the Declaration on the Principles...