By IANS,
New Delhi : India will put forth its views on the situation in Afghanistan and Asian security at the third Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), a 20-nation multilateral forum, that opens in Istanbul Tuesday.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma will represent India at the third CICA summit.
In his discussions, Sharma will be assisted by Latha Reddy, secretary (east) in the external affairs ministry, and R.S. Jassal, India’s ambassador to Turkey, and other senior officials.
The Turkish government has said that it plans to focus on the situation in Afghanistan, but the situation in Gaza Strip following Israel’s attack on an aid flotilla May 31 may end up overshadowing the summit.
A brainchild of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, CICA is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. The charter of CICA was adopted at the first summit meeting held in Almaty June 4, 2002.
A founding member, India has actively participated in the CICA process since its inception. Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee attended the first summit in June 2002. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora represented India at the second summit in June 2006.
CICA comprises Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
Vietnam and Iraq will join CICA as members at the third summit in Istanbul.
Seven countries — Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Qatar, Vietnam, Ukraine and USA — and three multinational organisations, including United Nations, have observer status. The CICA Secretariat, the administrative body of the CICA is located in Almaty, Kazakhstan.