Kazakh delegations took part in the forums of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in New York. The foreign ministers of the member countries discussed pressing global challenges and ways of addressing them jointly.
Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, who presided at the CICA meeting, highlighted that in over 25 years the organization has become Asia’s largest forum according to the number of its participants and geographical coverage.
Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov reminded that a quarter of a century ago, on October 5, 1992, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia was first proposed by the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. He highlighted that Kazakhstan has presented a vision of further development of the Conference, including its expansion and development of external relations. The forum participants adopted the Statement on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the CICA.
The priorities of Kazakhstan’s upcoming chairmanship in the UN Security Council and President Nazarbayev’s initiatives were also announced to the heads of the foreign policy departments of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The meeting participants adopted three joint statements: on ensuring comprehensive stability in the world, on the situation in Afghanistan and countering the threat of posed by international terrorist and extremist organizations.
Shanghai Cooperation Organization members gathered in New York for the first time after the historic summit in Astana in June, where India and Pakistan joined the organization. The forum participants discussed the importance of the SCO Charter and the Treaty on Long-Term Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.

RASHID ALIMOV, SCO SECRETARY GENERAL:
- This is certainly a very important event, which has great international significance, here at the UN headquarters, in the center of world politics, where global and regional security challenges are solved. The SCO covers about 25% of the planet’s territory, and about 44% of world’s population. Today, many participants spoke highly of the Astana Declaration and the decisions that were made in Astana. The spirit of Astana was present at the meeting today.