- 2nd meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue held by digital video-conference Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyz Republic.
India’s interests in the Central Asia
- Mineral resources: abundant such as petroleum, natural gas, antimony, aluminium, gold, silver, coal and uranium which can help ensure energy security for India. For example- Kazakhstan has the largest uranium reserves
- Strengthening India’s role in Afghanistan: Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled peace process
- Connectivity: to Europe & develop its transit and transport potential through regional and international transport corridors such as the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
- Economic opportunities: consumer market for goods and services provided by India including IT services, tourism, tea, pharmaceuticals etc.
- Ensuring regional peace and stability: due to regional proximity and effect on India’s overseas projects such as the TAPI pipeline.
Some critical issues faced by the region include
- Terrorism and radicalization with existence of terrorist safe-havens, networks, infrastructure and funding channels
- Threat of the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) as the region remains highly vulnerable to the smuggling of fissile material for WMD
- Illegal Drug trade emanating from ‘Golden Crescent’ of opium production (Iran-Pak-Afghan)
- Growing influence of China in Central Asia: China’s One Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) threat to India’s objective on overcoming connectivity issues with Central Asia to ensure strengthened economic-political relations.
- Lack of accessibility: India does not share physical borders with any of the Central Asian states and the unstable situation in Afghanistan, impact of US-Iran tensions on regional connectivity projects and India’s antagonistic relations with Pakistan has further complicated connectivity and trade prospects for India.
- Domestic challenges faced by the region: religious extremism, authoritarian regimes, terrorism, ongoing conflicts etc challenge in furthering India’s economic interests.
Way forward
- leverage the historical, cultural and civilizational bonds as well as traditionally close people-to-people contacts to build its Central Asia partnership.
- promote business linkages, facilitate greater understanding of taxation, business regulations in India and the Central Asian countries and incentivize trade, business and investment, especially in the area of Small and Medium Enterprise
- actively engaging in the economic reconstruction of Afghanistan
- use Chabahar port in Iran to establish trade and transport communications with Central Asian markets
Efforts by India to enhance engagement in the Central Asia
- US$ 1 billion Line of Credit: by India for priority developmental projects in fields such as connectivity, energy, IT, healthcare, education, agriculture etc. in Central Asia.
- To facilitate transport of goods between India and Central Asia via Iran, India acceded to the Customs Convention on International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR Carnets in 2017 and joined the Ashgabat Agreement – which includes Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – in 2018.
- High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDP): Grant assistance for furthering socio-economic development.
- India-Central Asia Business Council (ICABC): February 2020 and comprises FICCI and chambers of commerce from the 5 central Asian countries
- Other measures
- hosting of Central Asian media delegation in India in April 2019
- the training of Central Asian diplomats at the Sushma Swaraj Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi in July 2019
- Annual International Dance Festival with a focus on Central Asia, organized by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) in New Delhi in December 2019
- Indian Government in 2019, extended a line of credit of US$200 million, for military equipment to Kyrgyzstan seeks to modernise its defence systems
- 2019, India signed a uranium supply agreement with Uzbekistan
India-Central Asia Dialogue
- with five Central Asian countries- Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic
- 1st meeting in January 2019 in Samarkand (Uzbekistan). Afghanistan attended the 1st and 2nd meetings as a special invitee
- platform for strengthening cooperation between India and the Central Asian countries in political, security, economic and commercial, development partnership, humanitarian and cultural spheres as well as exchanging views on regional and international issues of mutual interest and enhancing cooperation under the framework of UN and other multilateral fora.
India and Central Asia face a myriad of common challenges like terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and such other issues. All these commonalities make them natural partner in their developmental journey and calls for greater cooperation in regional and global arena.