President Aliyev arrives in Almaty for participation in CICA summit

"The plane with Ilham Aliyev aboard landed [at 12.35AM] in the airport of Almaty, The leader is the first to have arrived for the summit," Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan has informed Kazakhstan Today.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, Hu Jintao, Chairman of PRC, Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, Islam Karimov, President of Uzbekistan, Emomali Rakhmonov, President of Tajikistan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, President of Kyrgyzstan, Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan, Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan have consented to participate in the II CICA summit.

Thailand will be represented by the Prime Minister, Israel, Mongolia, and Turkey will be represented by Vice Premiers, India - by a Prime Minister's Special Envoy.

A new observer country - Ukraine- will be present for the first time.

Besides, a UN Deputy Secretary General and the Secretary General of the League of Arab States will participate.

The idea of the CICA was first brought forward by Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, in 1992 at the 47th session of the UN General Assembly. The purpose of the Conference is to gather an all-Asian summit for discussion of key regional problems and development of co-operation between the member states on analogy with the OSCE.

Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, and Uzbekistan have confirmed their participation in the second CICA summit. Israel, Mongolia, and will be presented by Vice Premiers, India - by a Prime Minister's Special Envoy. Besides, a UN Deputy Secretary General and the Secretary General of the League of Arab States will participate.

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