Iran plays ‘very significant role’ in CICA’s promotion: Secretary general

Kairat Sarybay, the secretary-general of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), speaks with Press TV on May 30, 2023

The Islamic Republic of Iran has played a “very significant role” in the promotion of Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) from the inter-governmental forum’s inception, CICA Secretary General Kairat Sarybay says in an interview with Press TV.

Sarybay made the statement on the sidelines of a meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi in the capital Tehran on Tuesday.

Since the establishment of CICA by Kazakhstan in 1992, the body has been serving as an inter-governmental forum striving to enhance cooperation toward the promotion of peace, security, and stability in Asia.

“Iran is our member state from the beginning. Thirty years before, the first president of Kazakhstan announced to launch the initiative to have a structure that can take care of the confidence and cooperation in Asia; and from the very beginning, Iran is a very proactive part of this process,” Sarybay told Press TV.

The CICA Secretary General said the fact that within the last two years he has visited Iran three times, and that President Raeisi personally took part at the 6th CICA Summit last year in Astana, Kazakhstan, shows the very “serious approach of Iran” to the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia.

“CICA is an evolving process, and we have many opportunities to extend our actions to the good deeds, and Iran plays a very significant role within this process,” Sarybay underlined.

In the meeting with Sarybay on Tuesday, Raeisi said unilateralism is in decline on the global stage, underlining how it is rather the regional countries and establishments that are coming to the fore in determining international equations and future developments.

Raeisi judged the course of international developments to be headed towards multilateralism, stating, "With the [underway] decline of unilateralism in the world, it is [rather] the countries of the region and regional organizations that determine the future of [both] the region and the world."

The Iranian chief executive noted that CICA holds profuse and manifold capacities that could be used towards the enhancement of interaction among its members.

Raeisi also laid emphasis on the need for the existence of sustainable communication among the body's member states.

The inter-governmental forum, comprising 27 countries from across Asia, was founded by Nursultan Nazarbayev, a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first president of Kazakhstan.