Third Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia was held in Istanbul on 7 - 9 June 2010. Turkey took over the Chairmanship of CICA from Kazakhstan for 2010 - 2012. Declaration and the Chairman's Conclusion of the Third CICA Summit can be reached in the Documents Section.

In connection with the Third CICA Summit a Special Event titled “Security and Economic Cooperation in Eurasia in the 21st Century”was organized on 7 June 2010 with the participation of CICA Member countries and OSCE Asian Partners for Co-operation.

After the CICA Summits, the CICA Ministers of Foreign Affairs Meetings constitute the most important forum. Until today 3 Ministers of Foreign Affairs Meetings were held in 1999, 2004 and 2008 in Almaty.

According to CICA Rules of Procedure, Senior Officials Committee (SOC) meets as often as necessary, but not less than at least once a year to follow-up on previous CICA decisions, carry out consultations on the current CICA issues, oversee the work of Special Working Groups (SWG) and co-ordinate the work of other meetings such as the Summit and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Meeting. SWG studies specific issues relevant to CICA's area of interest, carries out the tasks mandated to it and submits reports to the SOC. Usually SWG and SOC's are organized back to back and the decisions taken in SWG are presented to SOC for approval.

Under Turkey’s Chairmanship, 5 Special Working Group (SWG) and Senior Official Committee (SOC) Meetings (Ankara, Istanbul, Antalya, Izmir and China (Tongxiang)), 1 CICA-International Organization for Migration (IOM) Workshop (Antalya), 3 CICA Sub-Economic Group Meetings (Bangkok, Antalya, Izmir), 1 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Experts Meeting (Istanbul), and an Informal Meeting on the Margins of The 66th UN General Assembly has been held since June 2010.

Within the context of Turkey’s Chairmanship, CICA has a busy schedule for 2012. The CICA-IOM Briefing for the CICA Consular Officers held on 24 January 2012 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, has been the first meeting of the year. Following the CICA-IOM Briefing, the “4th CICA Sub-Economic Group Meeting” on 27 February 2012 in Istanbul, “SWG and SOC Meetings” on 28-29 February 2012 in Istanbul, “CICA Business Forum and SMEs Networking Meeting” in cooperation with Turkish SME Development Organization (KOSGEB) on 2-4 April 2012 in Istanbul, and “CICA Tourism Ministers Meeting” on 3-5 May 2012 in Izmir are planned to be organized. The “2nd CICA Experts Meeting on Combating Desertification” on 16-17 April 2012 in Konya will follow the above mentioned meetings. In this connection, efforts are underway in cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Forestry and Water of Turkey for the establishment of “CICA Coordination Center on Combating Desertification” in Konya.

THE CONFERENCE ON INTERACTION AND CONFIDENCE BUILDING MEASURES IN ASIA (CICA) FOREIGN MINISTERS INFORMAL MEETING ON THE MARGINS OF THE 66TH UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

“CICA Foreign Ministers Informal Meeting on the Margins of the 66th UN General Assembly” was held on 26 September 2011 in New York, under the Chairmanship of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mr. Ahmet Davutoglu. In the meeting, member states discussed ways to strengthen the role of CICA in settling conflicts and disputes in the CICA region and reviewed the current activities of CICA. Currently, along with Turkey CICA has 24 member states. After chairing the CICA Foreign Ministers Informal Meeting held in the Millennium Hotel in New York, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mr. Ahmet Davutoglu gave a press conference. Minister Davutoglu, reminded that the 3rd Summit of CICA was held on 7-9 June 2010 in Istanbul and Turkey took over the CICA Chairmanship during that Summit. Having highlighted the active Chairmanship of Turkey, Minister Davutoglu mentioned that CICA has been maintained as a platform for many years. Under Turkey’s Chairmanship, however, strong effort is shown for CICA to be transferred into a much more strengthened cooperation mechanism and an international structure that generates stability and a confidence building athmosphere, Minister Davutoglu stated. Minister Davutoglu, pointing out that during Turkey’s Chairmanship special working group meetings were held for strengthening the confidence building measures in Asia, mentioned that 4 states have joined CICA as members under Turkey’s Chairmanship. Minister Davutoglu said that, in this framework while Iraq and Vietnam have been members to CICA in 2010, Bahrain and Cambodia became members to CICA with the New York meeting. Minister Davutoglu also drew attention to the fact that Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CICA member states gathered for the first time on the margins of the UN General Assembly and mentioned that these meetings would continue to be held traditionally in the future. Having pointed to the fact that there are countries with very different foreign policy approaches and with different political systems in CICA, Minister Davutoglu stated that the membership profile of CICA is diverse. Minister Davutoglu mentioned that Bahrain and Cambodia having signed the basic documents became members to CICA during the New York meeting under Turkey’s Chairmanship. Minister Davutoglu also said that the security issues related to Asia will continue to be among the main items in the world agenda in the near future and that the establishment of an environment of trust in Asia constitutes a priority in the maintenance of peace in the whole world. Minister Davutoglu noted that currently a significant number of international issues are related to Asia, and that problems stretching from Afghanistan to the Gulf, to the Middle East Peace Process and to the South Asia are directly linked to Asia. Within this framework Minister Davutoglu stated that CICA carries the potential of being among the most important international organizations of the future, particularly taking into consideration the recent economic developments in Asia.