Hon’ble Foreign Adviser Mr. Md. Touhid Hossain called for robust cooperation among the member states in his speech in the 7th Ministerial Council Meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA), held today in Baku, Azerbaijan in online format. Referring to war, conflict, climate change and natural disasters as threat to human survival, the Hon’ble Foreign Adviser urged the leaders to explore meaningful means to address these challenges and to continue dialogue based on compassion and solidarity to bring peace, stability and collective security in the pan-Asian Region and beyond.
Highlighting CICA as a dynamic platform for confidence building among the nation through cooperation, the Hon’ble Foreign Adviser commended CICA’s impact in addressing and minimizing multiple threats and in harnessing benefits in economic, environment and human dimensions. He reiterated Bangladesh’s readiness to contribute to CICA, especially in its role as co-chairs of CICA dimensions in information technology, natural disaster and environmental protection.
CICA, a multi-national forum of 28 countries, was established in 1992 for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. Bangladesh became member of CICA in 2014. During the meeting, the present chair of CICA, Republic of Kazakhstan handed over the chairmanship to Azerbaijan for next two years. The 7th Ministerial Council Meeting is attended by Foreign Ministers of CICA member states and Heads of few International Organizations. The meeting also adopted the CICA Ministerial Council Statement on the 25th Anniversary of the Declaration on the principles guiding relations among CICA member states. The senior officials of the Regional Organizations Wing of the Foreign Ministry were present at the meeting.