FM: Regional co-op formats grow in importance over recent years

By Azernews

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has stated that regional cooperation formats have grown in importance in recent years, Azernews reports, citing the ministry.

Bayramov made the remarks at a meeting with the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) executive director Kayrat Saribay on July 6, the report added.

Welcoming the executive director, the top diplomat said that Azerbaijan values cooperation within the framework of CICA. He added that the importance of regional cooperation formats has come to the fore in the current period.

The tripartite cooperation formats executed with Azerbaijan's involvement, including the recent Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-Turkey foreign affairs and transport ministers' meeting in Baku, were emphasized in this respect. The importance of transport connectivity, as well as the development of the East-West Middle Corridor, was stressed.

Saribay, for his part, remarked that the visit program to Azerbaijan is fascinating and that the discussions with key institutions are valuable in terms of receiving thorough information on topics vital to CICA. He was pleased to see that Azerbaijan always actively engages within the scope of CICA.

Describing transportation connectivity as one of the most pressing concerns for CICA, Saribay stressed that Azerbaijan was chosen for its positive stance in this respect.

The parties discussed the transformation of CICA, the orientation of the institution's activities on issues of common interest and current concerns, preparations for the upcoming summit, and regional issues during the meeting.

The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is a multi-national forum for fostering peace, security, and stability in Asia. The forum was founded on the premise that peace, security, and stability in Asia and in the rest of the globe are inextricably linked.

While expressing their commitment to the UN Charter, the member states believe that discussion and collaboration may lead to a single indivisible area of security in Asia, where all states coexist peacefully and their peoples live in peace, freedom, and prosperity.

The Declaration on the Principles Guiding Relations between the CICA Member States, adopted at the First Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs held in Almaty on September 14, 1999, and the Almaty Act, CICA's charter, adopted at the First Summit held in Almaty on June 4, 2002, are the two founding documents of CICA. These two publications served as a springboard for CICA's future development.

The CICA Secretariat, the organization's administrative body, is based in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. The executive director is nominated by the chairing nation, as are the deputy executive director and professional personnel, who are seconded by the member states.