Baku, Oct 15 (IANS) India on Thursday emphasised once again its vision of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ for peace and cooperation while calling upon all member states of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) to unite against cross-border terrorism at the grouping’s summit in Azerbaijan.
Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh addressed the Plenary Session of the 7th CICA Summit in Baku.
“Addressed the Plenary Session of the 7th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), held at Baku, Azerbaijan,” Singh posted on X.
“Emphasized India’s vision of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (The World is One Family) for peace, cooperation, friendship and countering shared challenges. Called upon all Member States to unite against cross-border terrorism,” he added.
Singh arrived in Baku on Wednesday to attend the summit and was welcomed by India’s Ambassador to Azerbaijan Abhay Kumar.
“I look forward to constructive deliberations on strengthening regional cooperation, building mutual trust, and advancing peace, stability and security across Asia,” he had said on arrival.
The Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. It is a forum based on the recognition that there is a close link between peace, security and stability in Asia and in the rest of the world, according to the official statement.
The member states of CICA are: India, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Cambodia, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Kazakhstan’s then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev first proposed the idea of convening CICA at the 47th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1992, according to an official statement. The driving force behind this initiative was the aspiration to establish an efficient structure for ensuring peace and security in Asia.
–IANS
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