THIRD SUMMIT OF CICA STARTS

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, /MONTSAME/ The Third Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) started Monday in Istanbul city, Turkey. A delegation headed by Ts.Elbegdorj, the President of Mongoliaü is attending the summit that will run until June 9.
Apart of Mongolia's State Head, the summit has been participated by the Presidents of the CICA's members such as Kazakhstan and Turkey, Vice Presidents of Vietnam and Iraq, Prime Minister of Russia V.Putin, Chairman of Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China Wu Bangguo, and by delegations led by Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs of Pakistan and Israel.
The CICA's third summit is attracting global attention in times of conflicts between Israel and Turkey, a critical situation in the Korean peninsula and aftermaths of the riots in Kyrgyzstan and Thailand. Regulating conflicts in Asia in peaceful ways, protecting human rights and developing economic cooperation have become a basis of ensuring security in the region.
Media delegations from some 20 countries--the BBC, Reuters, Xinhua, France Press, MONTSAME and other agencies--have gathered in Istanbul to report actions of the summit. Last Saturday, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey gave a report to the media on the CICA's summit meeting of this year.
The CICA has 20 plenipotentiary members--Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikstan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan. The observers are Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Vietnam, Ukraine, USA, the UN, the League of Arab States, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
During this year's summit, the CICA will accept Vietnam and Iraq as members. In addition to it, a special programmed measure titled “Security of Europe-Asia in the 21st century and economic cooperation” will take place. In accordance with the rules, current leader of the CICA Kazakhstan will transfer its leadership to the Republic of Turkey. It will chair the CICA until 2012.
The CICA was established in 1992 at initiative of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan. The first summit was held in 2002 in Almaty city of Kazakhstan when State Heads of 16 countries inked the Almaty Act. The document determined a goal of the CICA--to build an effective and proper structure for ensuring security in Asia. The second summit was held in Almaty again in the year 2006.
Mongolia became member of the CICA in 1993, gained a status of extraordinary membership in 2001. Former Deputy Premier of Mongolia M.Enkhsaikhan took part in the 2nd summit, and sounded a letter of Mongolia's President to the member-states.
The CICA hold its summit every four years. Its meeting of Foreign Ministers is held every two years, whereas the Committee of Higher Officials--every year.
B.Khuder