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Baku: State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir has reaffirmed Bangladesh’s commitment to strengthening regional cooperation in Asia, calling for an inclusive and results-driven Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
Speaking at the plenary session of the seventh CICA Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday, he expressed Bangladesh’s full support for transforming the pan-Asian forum into a fully fledged international organisation with a clear legal status, a strengthened secretariat, predictable financing and effective decision-making mechanisms.
Kobir put forward three proposals to make CICA’s work more effective and strengthen cooperation among member states.
He called for implementing results-oriented sectoral projects backed by formal follow-up mechanisms to build meaningful partnerships, organising more in-person events to ensure broader participation by stakeholders, and strengthening exchanges among member states’ information and communication technology (ICT) institutions.
He also proposed developing confidence-building measures to ensure a safe, open and trusted digital space, particularly in addressing emerging challenges related to ICT and artificial intelligence.
The seventh CICA Summit is being held under Azerbaijan’s chairmanship with the theme “A Stronger CICA: Connectivity, Digitalisation, and Sustainable Growth in Asia”, reflecting key priorities for the region.
During the summit, Laos became the 29th member of the forum, which was established in 1999 to promote peace, security and stability across Asia.
The summit also endorsed Azerbaijan’s chairmanship for 2026–2028 and the appointment of Sultan Hajiyev as the next CICA secretary-general.