CICA summit opened in Istanbul

The third Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) opened in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul chairs the three-day summit which is attended by IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Middle East and Asian leaders.

The summit held every two years aims to increase security and trust on the Asian continent. It has a permanent secretariat in Kazakhstan.

The summit brings together countries including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Turkey.

The CICA was set up on the initiative of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the independence of his country. It aims to establish norms of international relations in Asia.

It is credited with creating the “Nuclear Weapons Free Zone in Central Asia (Semipalatinsk Treaty, signed in 2006 by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan).