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Ali Sabry pushes for regional development, security, tourism

23 Sep 2022

Minister of Foreign Affairs M.U.M Ali Sabry PC, addressing the informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) on Wednesday (21) in New York, USA, noted that Sri Lanka hopes that the forthcoming CICA summit would lead to greater dialogue and co-operation resulting in enhanced development and security in the region.  He noted that Member States of the CICA have robust institutions and therefore, sharing experiences and expertise would be of mutual benefit.  Minister Ali Sabry stressed that it is encouraging to note that the “Samarkand Declaration”, which was adopted at the 22nd meeting of the Council of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), hosted by Uzbekistan last week highlighted the importance of further deepening co-operation between the SCO and the CICA in order to ensure security and stability in the region and on other issues of mutual interest.  The CICA has identified economic, social, and cultural co-operation to achieve its main objective of enhancing co-operation through elaborating multilateral approaches toward promoting peace, security, and stability in Asia, Minister Ali Sabry noted. He also pointed out while addressing the other Foreign Ministers in New York that tourism is an important industry in Asia and has the capacity to strengthen the bonds of understanding and friendship among our nations.  “Last year, Sri Lanka, in our capacity as the Co-Coordinator of Confidence Building Measures in Tourism, successfully conducted a virtual business-to-business interactive session with the CICA Member States in order to enhance tourism co-operation,“ he added. Sri Lanka has proposed several other activities to the CICA work plan aiming at greater integration and co-operation within the tourism industry in the region, he noted.  


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