BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 10. It's important to create mechanisms for financing the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), said Mohammad Ashique Rahman, senior researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Studies in Bangladesh, at the 13th Meeting of the CICA Think Tank Forum on the theme "Resonance of Development and Security: Regional Cooperation and Governance in the Institutional Transformation of CICA" in Baku today, Trend reports.
"Back in 2004, five years after its establishment, the CICA determined measures to strengthen trust and key priority directions. These directions exist even now, but for their successful implementation, the organization must show an innovative approach, because this is the main sphere of its activity.
For this, the CICA needs a clear structure and sufficient resources. Financing remains a problem. Therefore, it's important to build mechanisms and structures that will provide the organization with the necessary means to fulfill its tasks," he said.
Besides, according to the expert, CICA as a regional organization should use the potential of youth as much as possible. Young people must be involved in the process of the organization. In many member countries, the share of youth is significant, and it is important to turn this group into a resource for increasing the potential of member states.
"Additionally, a more effective working plan for the forum of think tanks is necessary. Think tanks of the CICA member countries should be more actively engaged in research," stressed Rahman.
At the 1992 UN General Assembly, Kazakhstan's then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). The Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations between CICA Member States and the Almaty Act, approved in 1999 and 2002, respectively, are the organization's basic texts. Asian nations welcomed the CICA plan. The interested countries met for seven years to explore CICA modalities and create basic papers. On September 14, 1999, 15 member states attended the first CICA Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting. CICA Member States adopted the Declaration on Principles Guiding Relations during this meeting.
Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel