On 15 June 2019, H.E. Mr. Vijavat Isarabhakdi, Advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, in his capacity as the Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, attended the 5th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Dushanbe, Republic of Tajikistan. 

 

Several world leaders, including the President of the Russian Federation, the President of the People’s Republic of China, the President of the Republic of Turkey, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, the President of People's Republic of Bangladesh, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, and the Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam took part in this Summit.  

 

In his statement to the meeting, Mr. Vijavat underscored Thailand’s role and contribution to the organisation and proposed that CICA give priority to sustainable development which would help contribute to peace and stability in Asia. Thailand as the coordinator for Confidence Building Measures in the area of sustainable development stands ready to share its experience in following the development path as guided by the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP)of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej The Great. Moreover, Thailand can share its experience as the current ASEAN Chair under the theme “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”. CICA can also strengthen its partnerships and cooperation with other regional organisations such as ASEAN, the Shanghai Cooperation Dialogue (SCO), and the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), which would help efforts to promote peace and sustainable development in the region, Mr. Vijavat concluded.

 

The Summit meeting also adopted the Declaration of the Fifth CICA Summit which outlines the cooperation between CICA member countries in promoting security in Asia in various dimensions.

 

CICA was initiated by former President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan in 1992 as a forum to strengthen interaction and confidence building measures in various dimensions between member countries in Asia. At present, there are 27 CICA member countries, including Thailand.