CICA Summit 2022.

Byline: Muhammad Asif Noor

Kazakhstan's beautiful capital Astana hosted the sixth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) from October 12-13. This year CICA was celebrating the 30th anniversary of its establishment for the promotion of peace and prosperity in Asia. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif traveled to Astana on 12th October to represent Pakistan at such an important regional intergovernmental organization for the Summit. Apart from sharing his views on Pakistan's longstanding support for the forum and relationship with Kazakhstan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan has made important remarks on occasion and met several heads of state participating at the sidelines of the Summit. CICA is one of Asia's most influential regional intergovernmental organizations in Asia. With 27 member countries, nine observer states, and five observer organizations, including five partner organizations, CICA carries an important weight at the regional level. The organization aims to promote peace, cooperation, security, and stability in Asia. With such a massive gathering of nations across Asia, CICA has a vital role, especially in the regional peace and prosperity structures.

Over the past three decades, CICA has remained instrumental in bringing forth opportunities for dialogue. This forum has also reflected Kazakhstan's more substantial global presence as a country fostering regional and international peace. CICA was the vision of the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who shared this idea at the UNGA to create a mechanism for consultation and interaction to cooperate and promote peace, security, and stability in Asia. This idea was mainly against the backdrop of the newly emerged states after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. CICA has remained an important instrument in promoting regional dialogue and building confidence amongst nations for issues including the economy, social transformation, environment, emerging traditional and nontraditional security threats, and military and political conversations. The significant goals being overlooked by the forum are confidence building among nations, cooperation on environmental issues, prevention and proliferation on the subject of weapons of mass destruction, and promotion of mutual respect and tolerance among civilizations.

Through dialogue and peace cooperation, there is a greater chance for the countries to have win-win cooperation and...