Sri Lanka granted full CICA membership

Karunasena Kodituwakku, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to China (first on the left) toasts with other officials to the entry of Sri Lanka into CICA (Photo courtesy of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing)

Sri Lanka was unanimously accepted as a member of the Conference on Interactions and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) on Thursday by its 26 member states.

Established in 1992, CICA is a multi-national forum aimed at enhancing cooperation toward promoting peace, security and stability in Asia and focusing on confidence building measures against new threats and challenges. Sri Lanka became an observer state in 2012

Karunasena Kodituwakku, Sri Lanka’s ambassador to China, signed two documents required for states seeking new membership Thursday at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, thanked all CICA member states for conferring full membership to the country, and assured adherence to the Declaration of Principles Guiding Relations Between CICA Member-States and the Almaty Act.

“I would like to take this opportunity to convey our sincere thanks to all member-states of CICA, particularly to the People’s Republic of China, as the current chair of CICA, Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China and the State Councilor His Excellency Wang Yi, the chairman of the CICA Task Force of the Chinese Chairmanship and all others who contributed to make our endeavor a success,” said the ambassador.

Sri Lanka’s entry into CICA is strategically important for the country, because CICA is one of the largest political entities in Asia. Its entry will benefit Sri Lanka by enhancing bilateral ties, promoting economic cooperation and trade, increasing people-to-people contacts among CICA members and further enhancing regional and international cooperation.