Baku, Oct 14 — Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh arrived in Azerbaijan's Baku on Wednesday to attend the Seventh Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
India's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Abhay Kumar welcomed Singh in Baku. Upon arrival in Baku, Singh stated that he looked forward to constructive discussions on strengthening regional cooperation, building mutual trust, and advancing peace, stability and security across Asia.
In a post on X, Kirti Vardhan Singh stated, "Arrived in Baku to participate in the Seventh Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA)."
"I look forward to constructive deliberations on strengthening regional cooperation, building mutual trust, and advancing peace, stability and security across Asia," he added.
The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. It is a forum based on the recognition that there is a close link between peace, security and stability in Asia and in the rest of the world, according to the official statement.
The member states of CICA are: India, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Cambodia, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
The CICA's observer states are: Belarus, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and the US. The observer organisations of CICA are: International Organisation for Migration (IOM), United Nations (UN), Organisation for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), League of Arab States (LAS) and Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States.
Kazakhstan's then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev first proposed the idea of convening CICA at the 47th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1992, according to the official statement. The driving force behind this initiative was the aspiration to establish an efficient structure for ensuring peace and security in Asia.