President meets Tajik President Rahmon ahead of CICA summit

• President Rahmon shares his views on security and prevention of conflict
• Summit to commence today and President Sirisena to address first session

President Maithripala Sirisena met with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe yesterday and shared views on conflict resolution and security, the President’s Media Unit said.

The President’s official Twitter page stated that the two Presidents held a successful discussion in Dushanbe. The Tajik President had shared his views on maintaining the security of small nations and confidence-building measures to prevent conflicts.

PresidentSirisenaleft for Tajikistan to attend the Fifth Summit of Heads of State of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), scheduled to commence in Dushanbe today. President Maithripala Sirisena is among the Heads of States scheduled to address the first session, to be held at the Navruz Palace in the Tajik capital.

Established to ensure peace, security and stability in Asia, the CICA is an international forum to strengthen cooperation. CICA is the only multilateral security mechanism that covers almost all of Asia. To date, there are 27 member countries, including China, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Sri Lanka, and Israel.

According to the President’s Media Division, Sri Lanka became the 26th member of CICA in 2018, when Colombo’s application was unanimously accepted by CICA, after Sri Lanka obtained its CICA Observer State status in 2012.  It is believed that full membership would further enhance Sri Lanka’s bilateral, economic and trade cooperation as well as people-to-people contacts with other CICA Member States. CICA, different from other security mechanisms, possessesthe characteristics of an ‘Asian initiative’, valuing equality among members, led by small countries.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi are also expected to arrive in Dushanbe to attend the CICA summit, and Modi is expected to hold bilateral discussions with President Xi.

At the Dushanbe Summit, CICA leaders will examine ways and means of strengthening economic ties and step up trade and investment. The CICA Summit gives the member countries an opportunity to promote regional exchanges to address both security demands and economic ties.