Vietnam on June 8 pledged to do its utmost as the
ASEAN chair to promote cooperation between the bloc and regional partners as
well as organisations, including the Conference on Interaction and
Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
The commitment was made by Vice State President Nguyen Thi
Doan at the 3 rd CICA summit in Istanbul
, Turkey the
same day.
Under the theme of seeking appropriate concerted approach for the regional
security issues, the summit focused on measures of coordinating member states’
actions regarding to peace and security issues.
Speaking at the summit, Vice State President Doan welcomed the theme, saying
that today, apart from achievements, Asia is
confronting many challenges arising from the global economic and financial
crisis, trans-national crime, climate change and diseases.
Those issues, she said, canot be addressed by any single region or nation. More
efforts are needed to seek a long-term solution to the development in Asia . She underlined that a mechanism for coordination
between the ASEAN and CICA will improve the activities and status of both
organisations on the international arena.
Doan praised the progresses made by CICA over the past two decades, saying that
the conference has displayed its role as an important dialogue for narrowing
differences and building confidence in Asia ,
contributing to the construction of peace, security and prosperity of countries
in the region.
The summit also announced Vietnam
and Iraq
’s joining of the organisation.
Speaking with the press, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Cuong said Vietnam ’s becoming a CICA official member was
of great significance to Vietnam
and CICA. It also shows Vietnam
’s responsibility for contributing to security, peace, cooperation and
development issues in the region.
Joining the CICA, Vietnam
will have opportunities to expand its dialogue channels and increase contact
with CICA member states.
CICA was established in 1993 at the initiative of Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev as a forum for dialogue and consultations and promotion of
confidence building measures among its members on security and development.
CICA has 22 member countries from all sub-regions of Asia including Central
Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Middle East
.
Vietnam
has joined the CICA since 1993 as guest participant at first and then as
observer. During the official visit to Kazakhstan
last September, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung announced Vietnam ’s decision to join the
conference as an official member./.
