Astana, 13 October 2022 (TDI): Conference on Interaction and Confidence. Building Measures in Asia (CICA) Council of Eminent Persons was formally established. This was announced during the sixth Summit of CICA.
According to the official website, CICA established the Council of Eminent Persons during the Sixth meeting of the CICA Ministers of Foreign Affairs; the proposal for establishing the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) and the CICA Advisory Group was formed in October 2021. After the deliberations, this council was formally launched at the Sixth CICA Summit.
These structures are meant to strengthen the Conference to transform from being a forum to a full-fledged organization. This advisory body is designed to assist and advise CICA on the range of issues of interaction and development within the framework of CICA.
The idea behind establishing the CEP was to advise at the request of the Summit, the Ministerial Meeting, the Chairmanship, or on its initiative. The advice of the Council of Eminent Persons is adopted by consensus and is not binding on the CICA Member States.
On 26 October 2021, the Member States approved the candidacy of CICA Founder Nursultan Nazarbayev for the post of Head of the CEP.
The Head of the CEP provides overall coordination and leadership in the Council, forms the agenda, convenes and presides over the meetings of the CEP, and coordinates the interaction with other CICA structures.
The Council of Eminent Persons members are appointed for a term of 5 years from among prominent political and public figures, scholars, and other eminent personalities from the CICA Member States based on consensus and voluntary participation.
As the CICA is transforming into a full-fledged organization, the special working group meeting held in September made significant advancements in the documents to be adopted during the Sixth CICA Summit for the transformation of CICA into a full fledge international multilateral organization.
