On October 12, the sixth meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) was held in the city of Nur-Sultan, for which a Turkmen delegation headed by Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov arrived in Kazakhstan .
During the visit, Meredov was received by the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev , his press service reported .
During the meeting, the sides discussed the prospects for strengthening the Kazakh-Turkmen political, trade and economic ties, as well as issues of regional security.
The Foreign Minister conveyed to the President the invitation of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to pay a state visit to Turkmenistan. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev confirmed his readiness to pay a visit to Ashgabat in the near future.
Then Meredov took part in the ministerial meeting, at which he noted “the importance of granting Turkmenistan the status of an observer country in the CICA,” the Foreign Ministry reported .
“Turkmenistan shares the principles and tasks on which the work of the CICA is built, namely, achieving peace and security on the Asian continent through political dialogue and cooperation, strengthening common regional and international security,” the official said.
The Minister also invited his colleagues to take part in the International Conference “Politics of Peace and Trust – the Basis of International Security, Stability and Development”, which will be held in Ashgabat on December 12.
The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is an international forum uniting the states of the Asian continent, which sets itself the task of strengthening relations and cooperation between Asian states in order to ensure stability and security in the region. The idea of convening the Meeting was first presented by the ex-President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, at the 47th session of the UN General Assembly in October 1992. The first CICA summit was held in 2002. The organization’s secretariat is located in Nur-Sultan.
In Kazakhstan, Rashid Meredov also held bilateral talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmaniyam Jaishankar . The officials discussed bilateral cooperation, interaction within the framework of the Central Asia-India Dialogue and the construction of the TAPI gas pipeline .
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan