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Asia must play a key role to ensure inclusive world order

Anand Sharma

ASTANA (Kazakhstan): India on Monday said the setting of the international agenda had to be a cooperative effort, in which Asia must play a prominent part to ensure that the world order was inclusive, just and equitable.

“The complexities of the present day demand an orderly transformation and recasting of the world order so that it reflects the realities and the urges of our age in which globalisation is moving ahead,” Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said at the third ministerial meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) here. Speaking in the city closely associated with the legend of Silk Route, Mr. Sharma said India believed that the CICA had a role to play in crafting security responses which went beyond traditional solutions. Promising that India would continue to actively participate in the CICA (it contributed in the drafting of basic documents), he wanted the organisation to concentrate on simple and uncomplicated issues for cooperation.

It should also focus on CBMs which were practical and achievable and at a pace comfortable to all, he told member-delegates from over 20 countries. Several observers, including from the U.S., are attending.

India appreciated the CICA’s basic philosophy of creating a pan-Asian dialogue on cooperation on security issues. This approach would contribute to the development of a cooperative and plurastic security order. “We need to be mindful of the diversity and the heterogeneity of the social, economic, political and cultural systems. It is this distinctive panorama which requires that we pay heed to our unique Asian framework.”

While appreciating the underlying concepts of the CICA, Mr. Sharma cautioned that models which were successful elsewhere might not necessarily be suitable for the continent. India consistently emphasised the CICA evolving its own approach rooted in the realities of Asia. “In CICA, we have recognised this diversity and the consequent need to move ahead gradually, building on the basis of consensus and voluntary participation.

India would host the next round of senior-level meetings in February next. It is among the seven countries that have volunteered to set the ball rolling for the implementation of CBMs. India, in cooperation with other countries, will prepare draft papers on cooperation in energy security, information technology and secure communication links.

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Asia must play a key role to ensure inclusive world order

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