BEIJING, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao will attend the second summit of the member states of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) to be held in Almaty of Kazakhstan on June 17.

    Hu is invited by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao announced at a regular press briefing here Thursday.

    The CICA, a forum aimed at increasing security in Asia, was first proposed by Nazarbayev at the 47th UN general assembly in 1992. Its 17 members include China, Russia, Egypt, Afghanistan, Israel, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, India and Palestine.

    The first ever summit of heads of states of the CICA member states took place on June 4, 2002, resulting in the creation of a new security forum for Asia. Enditem