In this regard, a meeting was held on UNGA sidelines

The Chairmanship of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA Chairmanship) has been transferred from China to Tajikistan.

As part of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, a special meeting of the foreign ministers of the CICA member states was held, said a report by the Kazakh foreign ministry.

During the meeting, the ceremony of transferring the Chairmanship of the CICA from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to the Republic of Tajikistan was held.

Habibollo Mirzoyev was appointed the new Executive Director of the Secretariat, whose candidacy was unanimously supported by all 27 CICA member Countries.

China held the CICA Chairmanship from 2014-18

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Kairat Abdrakhmanov expressed gratitude to the PRC and the outgoing Chief Executive Gong Jianwei for their support and contribution to the development of the CICA process. He recalled that the Chinese presidency witnessed a new and important stage of the Conference’s development aimed at ensuring sustainable security and co-operation in Asia.

The Kazakh minister drew particular attention to the initiative of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev to establish an Organisation for Security and Development in Asia on the basis of the Conference and called for further discussion of this issue at the expert level.

The CICA was initiated by Nazarbayev on October 5, 1992. It is an intergovernmental forum for dialogue, consultation, decision-making and implementation of measures on the basis of consensus on security issues in Asia. To date, the CICA members are 27 Countries in Asia, observers – eight countries and five organizations