Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has arrived in China for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), where Sri Lanka is an observer state.
The summit will be held in Shanghai until Thursday under the theme of “Increasing dialogue, mutual trust and collaboration to build a new Asia that is peaceful, stable and cooperative”.
“CICA is a multinational forum comprising 24 countries and nine observer states including the US. Sri Lanka is attending the Summit for the first time,” Presidential spokesman Mohan Samaranayake told the Daily News.
The dignitaries will include Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, along with 9 other heads of states and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
"Through the summit, we hope to offer a platform for countries to exchange views on Asian security and cooperation," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping said according to Xinhua.
"We are confident we can work with other CICA member states to make new contributions to Asia's peace and stability."
The CICA was established in 1992 as a forum for dialogue and consultations and promotion of confidence-building measures and now groups 24 member countries and 13 observers.
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