Egypt is taking part in the fourth summit meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures (CICA) in Asia to discuss terrorism and nuclear weapons, and increase cooperation with China.
The two-day summit started on Tuesday in Shanghai. Among the areas of the conference’s interest are terrorism, border control management, human trafficking, development of secure and effective systems of transportation corridors, combating illicit drugs and other economic, environmental and human issues.
Headed by the foreign minister’s assistant for Asian affairs Ahmed Ismail AbdelMoti, the delegation is to present its stance on issues of terrorism and nuclear non-proliferation, “especially since there is a group of CICA member states that support Egypt on different stances,” said a Monday Egyptian foreign ministry statement.
Having China heading the conference for the coming two years provides Egypt a good opportunity for activities with the country, giving way for a new dimension in the Egyptian-Chinese relation and advancing it to the strategic level, said the statement.
The summit is also held to propose areas of cooperation between member states that serve development plans in Egypt, especially economic through economic means.
The statement further mentioned that taking part in this summit stresses the importance of the Asian dimension in Egypt’s foreign policy since Sinai is located in this continent of “civilisational and cultural diversity”.
CICA is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia.
The idea of convening the CICA was first proposed by President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on 5 October 1992, at the 47th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
CICA’s first meeting was held in Almaty on 14 September, 1999 where the member states signed the Declaration on the Principles Guiding Relations among the CICA Member States that states that the international legal basis of the CICA is the UN Charter and international law.
The first summit was also held in Almaty on 4 June 2002, in which the Almaty Act, the charter of the CICA, was adopted.
