Almaty, Aug. 27: Interactions with several experts, including some from Kazakhstan, reveals a sense and a feeling of dismay among them about the traditional and non-traditional security challenges and threats facing the international community, and particularly the Asia region in the 21st century.

Incidents like 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the conflict between Russia and Georgia, the resurgence of the Taliban in certain pockets of Afghanistan, the United States and Poland''s decision to go ahead with plans to set up a defence shield in East Europe and geopolitical concerns in South Asia, has left a majority of them non-plussed, they say.

Almaty, Aug. 27 (ANI): Although India only has an "Observer" status at the Almaty-based 20-member Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia 
(CICA) forum for the past three-and-a-half years, the Executive Director of the CICA Secretariat believes that New Delhi''s representation and presence is significant for the Asian region, both in the short and long term.

Speaking exclusively to ANI, D. Bakishev said: "India is making a very important contribution for the development of our forum. It is one of the biggest and the most influential countries of the world, and having it onboard is very important.

Almaty (Kazakhstan), Aug. 27 : What strikes a first time visitor to Kazakhstan or more specifically to Almaty, the cultural capital of this largest of Central Asian Republics is the carefree abandon and joy with which the younger generation of Kazakhs lives.

Almaty (Kazakhstan), Aug. 25: If there are places to assimilate the impact of multi-culturalism and modernisation, Almaty, the "Apple City" of Kazakhstan should make the list in more ways than one.

At least that is the first impression that one gets on seeing the city, widely regarded as the cultural and business capital of Kazakhstan, for the first time.

Almaty, Aug. 20 : Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev will attend the third ministerial meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) which is scheduled for August 25 in Almaty.

Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yerzhan Ashikbayev said the meeting would be held under the chairmanship of Kazakh Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin.

“Delegations of 21 CICA member-states, six observer states and three international observer organizations, namely the UN, the OSCE and the League of Arab States are expected to take part in the meeting.

Almaty (Kazakshstan), Apr 9: Vice President Hamid Ansari today said that India would cont