Editor's note: Zhang Hao, PhD of Institute of Russian, Eastern European & Central Asian studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and an editor of the Fangzhi Publishing House. The views expressed in the video are his and not necessarily those of CGTN.

On June 15, the fifth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) is held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the summit and made a speech.

At present, the security situation in Syria, Afghanistan, and on the Korean Peninsula, among various other non-conventional security challenges pose great threats to peace and development in Asia.

It should be noted that Asia has the largest population and market in the world, and is one of the most dynamic and promising regions. Thus, it plays an extremely important role in addressing global security challenges and pursing global peace and development. As it contributes more than 50 percent of the global economic growth, Asia has become an important engine of the world economy.

All this is made possible, thanks to the diligence and wisdom of the people in Asia and the absence of major wars and turmoil in the region for decades. In fact, security and stability has always been the cornerstone of Asia's development and prosperity. Today in Asia, peace and stability is the defining trend, and development and prosperity represent the common aspirations of the people.

Guided by the Asian Security Concept, the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) has made great contributions to peace and development in Asia. The idea of setting up CICA was first proposed by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev on October 5, 1992, at the 47th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

CICA has 27 member states, including China, Russia and India; another eight countries and five international organizations including UN, obtained the observer status. It has established mechanisms including the meeting of the heads of state and government (Summit), that of ministers of foreign affairs, the Senior Officials Committee (SOC) and the Special Working Group (SWG).

It is a forum for dialogues and consultations on regional security issues in Asia, with the main objective and purpose of enhancing cooperation through multilateral confidence-building measures towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia. Creating an environment where member states can trust each other is central to CICA's mission. The forum's confidence building measures mainly focus on five areas: economic, environmental, humanitarian, combating new challenges and threats, and military-political.

It adopts multilateral approaches to promote peace, security and stability in Asia. All parties have been working together to address a wide range of issues such as those concerning environmental protection, regional cooperation in trade and economy, eradicating illicit drug production and trafficking, and so forth.

After 27 years, CICA is now Asia's largest and most representative security forum with the greatest number of participants. First of all, its aim is in line with the common wish of countries in the region for win-win cooperation and the forum has achieved remarkable results in creating a unique and effective mode of cooperation on confidence-building measures.

Secondly, following the spirit of openness and inclusiveness of the new era, it is committed to promoting exchanges and mutual learning between countries with different social systems and civilizations, and has successfully increased its interactions with countries and international organizations both inside and outside Asia. CICA's "circle of friends" has expanded continuously.

Thirdly, the forum upholds the principles of dialogues and consultations. It has always adhered to the principles of voluntariness, autonomy, equal participation, consensus, gradual and orderly progress, and the development of both public and private sectors. As a result, the unity and mutual trust among all parties have been reinforced, and each party is a stakeholder of another’s success.

In May 2014, the Fourth CICA Summit was held in Shanghai. Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over the meeting and delivered an important speech, calling for Asian countries to uphold the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security for Asia and to innovate on security concepts, so as to establish a new regional security cooperation architecture and jointly build a road for security of Asia that is shared by and win-win to all.

Since China took over the presidency of CICA in 2014, under the guidance of the Asian Security Concept, CICA has made many new achievements. The meaning of cooperation has expanded. Member states have made detailed action plans on the implementation of confidence measures for cooperation in military and political programs, the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and drug control, and have carried out exchanges and cooperation in specific areas such as economy and trade, youth activities, tourism, environmental protection, information technology and military affairs. Moreover, the cooperation mechanism is further improved through innovation. CICA’s network of partners has further expanded. External exchanges are increasingly robust. Its influence is on the rise.

It is expected that this year’s summit will bring together high-level delegations to adopt an ambitious declaration covering all issues of cooperation within the CICA. There are good reasons to believe that under the guidance of the Asian Security Concept, the summit will conclude with greater achievements and CICA will make greater contributions to Asian security in the future.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)