KAZAKHSTAN: MARCH 2006 CICA CONFERENCE IN ALMATY

UNCLAS ALMATY 001585 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN (MUDGE) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: MARCH 2006 CICA CONFERENCE IN ALMATY ¶1. (SBU) Summary: CICA members held a working group meeting in Almaty on March 28-31. The bulk of the meeting was spent working to finalize the text of the draft Statute of the CICA Secretariat and Financial Rules. The next working group SIPDIS meeting will occur in mid-May; the delegates proposed, but did not agree upon, a date of June 17 for the second CICA summit. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Poloff attended a March 28-31 working group meeting in Almaty for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). Delegates from 16 of the 17 CICA member countries attended the meeting; only Egypt was absent. The delegates negotiated the text for the draft Statute of the CICA Secretariat and Financial Rules, and approved these texts with some reservations to be discussed at the next working group meeting scheduled for mid-May. Most of the conference was devoted to negotiating the exact wording of these texts. There was especially slow movement on the Financial Rules as the delegations worked to agree on the details of funding and hiring procedures. They discussed the proposed date of June 17, 2006, for the second CICA summit, but were unable to agree upon that date and will finalize the date through diplomatic channels. The main priority for the summit will be the signing of these documents. It was notable that no other goals of the summit were discussed. ¶3. (SBU) The May working group meeting was scheduled ad hoc, to complete unfinished business; organizers had hoped to finalize the draft Statute of the CICA Secretariat and the Financial Rules during the March meeting. Participants in the March meeting barely discussed the Outcome Document of the CICA Summit. The May working group meeting will be devoted to finishing work on these documents, as well as working out any other details that need to be accomplished prior to the second CICA summit. ORDWAY