Baku, 15 October. Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed at the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) that artificial intelligence become the organisation's sixth dimension of work. Kazakhstan also intends to increase its oil shipments through the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline together with Azerbaijan.
According to Tokayev, artificial intelligence has already become a decisive factor in economic development and national competitiveness, while cyberattacks play an extremely destructive role in modern conflicts. Confidence-building measures, the president said, should therefore extend to the digital sphere.
CICA currently has five dimensions: military-political, new challenges and threats, economic, environmental and humanitarian. Tokayev proposed adding a sixth one devoted to artificial intelligence.
Other proposals by Kazakhstan's president:
- to launch a preventive diplomacy mechanism;
- to create a CICA Water Partnership so that Asian countries can solve water problems together;
- to develop a CICA strategy on transport connectivity;
- to set up a partnership in human capital: Kazakhstan is ready to offer scholarships to students from all 28 CICA member states and research grants to scientists.
On energy, Tokayev said Kazakhstan intends to increase, together with Azerbaijan, the volume of Kazakh oil supplied through the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline.
Opening his speech, the president praised Azerbaijan's chairmanship of CICA and welcomed Laos, which joined the organisation as a full member on the day of the summit.
All the presidents of Central Asia came to Baku: besides Tokayev, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Sadyr Japarov, Emomali Rahmon and Serdar Berdimuhamedov.
Background
CICA is an international forum for building trust and security in Asia. Kazakhstan put forward the idea of convening it in 1992 at the 47th session of the UN General Assembly. The seventh summit is being held in Baku, and Azerbaijan chairs the organisation.
