India-Central Asia Summit

January 20, 2022

On January 27, PM Modi will host India – Central Asia Summit. The five central Asian presidents will attend the summit. They are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz republic.

About the summit

This is first India – Central Asia Summit. The summit is to be held virtually. India has been planning to hold the summit since Modi’s visit to these central Asian countries in 2015.
During the summit, the leaders re expected to exchange their views on international and regional issues. They are expected to mainly focus on security issues.

Significance of the Summit

The countries share their boundaries with Afghanistan. Afghanistan was taken over by Taliban after the US left Afghan soil in August 2021. This left Indian developmental works in Afghanistan incomplete. Also, the Indian investments made towards the development of Afghanistan went in vain.
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyz republic share their boundaries with China. India is now involved in 21 – month standoff with China.

Inference

The summit reflects the growing engagement of India with the central Asian countries. They are extended neighbourhood of India.

India – Central Asia Dialogue

India – Central Asia Dialogue is held annually. The dialogue is held among the ministers. The first dialogue was held in 2019. India and Central Asian countries signed High Impact Community Development Projects in 2020. The Central Asian countries are negotiating with India about the latter’s line of credit of 1 billion USD. The third dialogue was held in December 2021. During the dialogue, the countries pledged to increase their cooperation based on 4Cs, which is, commerce, connectivity, capacity building and contact.

India – Central Asia Business Council

It promotes business linkages, mutual investments and understanding of business regulations. The last and the second council meet was held in 2020. The next and the third council meet is to be hosted by Uzbekistan in 2022.

India – Central Asia Trade

The trade between India and Central Asia is around 2 billion USD. On the other hand, the trade between China and central asia is around 100 billion USD.

« Previous Post Next Post »