India and Central Asian Regions

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• Intro: INDIA’S ties with Central Asia can be traced back to the ancient Silk Road, along which goods, people, and ideas flowed. The region is part of Mackinder’s heartland and Forms part of India’s extended neighbourhood.

• Context: Geography has placed Central Asia at the nexus of crucial political and economic transformations for centuries. With the actualization of the BRI, India’s Connect Central Asia policy, and the EU’s new Central Asia strategy, the 21st century could possibly be the most decisive period for the region.

• Importance of Central Asia 
• Heart of Asia 
• Place for Great Games
• Russia - Strategic Backyard
• USA - Greater Middle East 
• China - Far West 
• India’s extended neighbourhood 

• Cooperation-
• Economic-
• India-Central Asia Business council(ICABC) : comprises of FICCI and business councils of 5 CARs
• Cultural connect : Sufism from central Asia to India and Buddhism from India to central Asia
• All 5 CAR to be chief guest at republic day,2022
• energy:
• India has uranium supply agreements with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
• military:
• exercise Khanjar, KAZIND
• India has an Airforce base at Farkhor in Tajikistan.
• India trains Kazak forces in peacekeeping ops.
• India is exploring FTA with Eurasian Economic Union
• Recently, India and Uzabekistan signed MOU to allow Uzbekistan to use Chabahar as a transit port, thus opening economic opportunities for traders of the region. Other CAR countries have shown interest in the port too.
• Participation of Afghanistan in India-central Asia dialogue provides opportunity for India and central Asian republics to work for economic reconstruction of Afghanistan, including through the implementation of infrastructure, energy, transit and transport projects.
• The signing of the INSTC,Ashgabat Agreement on connectivity, the full membership of the SCO, and partnership with Russia and Iran to develop access seemed to provide a more substantial and institutional basis for long-term engagement with the region.
• connect central Asia policy in 2012, Samarkand dialogue
• CAR supports India’s candidature at UNSC.
• India sent essential supplies to CAR during covid
• Second India central Asia dialogue -US$ 1 billion Line of Credit for priority developmental projects in fields such as connectivity, energy, IT, healthcare, education, agriculture etc. They also welcomed India’s offer to provide grant assistance for implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDP) for furthering socio-economic development in the countries of the region. 
• Scope to coop in counter terrorism and counter insurgency ops
• CAR is a region that has almost all the elements of the periodic table.
• India is a hub of medical tourism for CA countries
• Azerbaijan has large reserves of oil for which India is always an attractive market
• Turkmenistan has large reserves of natural gas
• yKrgystan has very large gold reserves
• As suggested by Uzbek prez Indian IT companies can establish centres in Uzbek and cater to market of Russia as people in Uzbekistan can speak Russian.
• Central Asia and Afghanistan form a vast landlocked region where Russia and China are big-time players for whom the region’s stability falls within the First Circle of their respective national security agenda.
• India has no direct access to the region but has vital stakes. Delhi cannot have an effective Central Asia strategy without the cooperation of these two big powers. India can use the card of regional connectivity to stimulate partnerships. The time may have come to reopen the files on the TAPI and IPI gas pipeline projects. Both involve Pakistan and an active engagement with Taliban
• From such a perspective, the third meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue in Delhi(dec 2021) served a purpose to sensitise the Central Asian interlocutors that it attaches primacy to Geo-economics. But India will have a challenge on its hands to flesh out the “4Cs” concept that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar presented at the event — commerce, capacity enhancement, connectivity, and contact being the four pillars of a new Geo-economic partnership.
• The key areas are transit and transport, logistics network, regional and international transport corridors, free trade agreements, manufacturing industry and job creation. They ought to be front-loaded into India’s Central Asian strategy. Certainly, the EAEU integration processes must be speeded up
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• Like Association of Southeast Asian Na­tions (ASEAN) centrality is key to the Indo­-Pacific, centrality of the Central Asian states should be key for Eurasia.

• Issues:
• India suffers from the “tyranny of distance” that hampers trade, connectivity and people to people contacts
• increasing radicalisation in CAR poses threat to India’s security, particularly after the revitalisation of Taliban in Afghanistan. Many figherts from CAR have migrated to Syriaa to join the ISIS.
• Chinese engagement in the region through its BRI gives an economic edge vis-a-vis Indian engagement.
• India bilateral trade- $2B, china $60B
• The coming of Taliban in Afghanistan poses risk to India’s central Asian connectivity through Chabahar and further may reduce transit of goods.

• Conclusion: As India looks beyond its borders, Central Asia provides India with the right platform to leverage its political, economic and cultural connections to play a leading role in Eurasia.