ALMA ATA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Foreign Ministers of the 20-member Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held their third meeting on Monday in AlmaAta, Kazakhstan.

    The meeting adopted a protocol on amendments to the CICA Secretariat agreement, a briefing of the third meeting of CICA foreign ministers and a declaration of the foreign ministers.

    At the meeting, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said CICA would become an effective mechanism for safeguarding security in Asia and promoting cooperation in the region.

    He urged member states to join efforts in fighting terrorism, religious extremism, organized crime, drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

    Qiao Zonghuai, head of the Chinese delegation, hailed the vigorous development of CICA for 16 years, during which the organization has steadily improved its system, with confidence building measures implemented, cooperation enhanced and its influence expanded.

    China has always taken an active part in the process of CICA and will contribute even more to promoting mutual understanding and trust, inter-civilization dialogue and harmonious development in the region, said the Chinese official.

    Apart from officials of member states, participants also included observers from Indonesia, Japan, the United States and Vietnam. The United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Arab League also sent their representatives to the meeting.

    CICA is a forum aimed at uniting Asian countries and strengthening their cooperation. The initiative was put forward by Nazarbayev at the 47th session of the U.N. General Assembly in 1992.

    The grouping now includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, Iran, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, South Korea, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Jordan and the United Emirates.