Now, Modi on mission to boost trade ties with Central Asian countries

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Russian city Ufa for the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings next week. He will also travel to five other Central Asian countries during his week-long tour of the region from July 6 to 13. The Prime Minister’s (PM) visit will start with Uzbekistan (July 6) followed by Kazakhstan (July 7), Turkmenistan (July 10), Kyrgyzstan (July 11) and Tajikistan (July 12-13) while Modi will be in Ufa on July 8-9.  

“The intensely-packed very short visit to these five countries which are our extended neighbourhood will focus on strategic relations, economic and energy co-operation and security,” said Navtej Sarna Secretary (West) in Ministry of External Affairs. He added this is the first time an Indian PM is touching all these five countries in one go.

According to officials, trade relations with these countries have “not been very impressive” and Modi would like to improve on that aspect with specialfocus on strengthening cooperation in the manufacturing sector. The PM will also push `connectivity’ plans that aim to join the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). 

Already India has agreed to develop Chabahar Port in Iran to improve connectivity and this INSTC will be additional help in linking India with Central Asia. The corridor will connect Nhava Sheva (Mumbai), Bandar Abbas (Iran), Astrakhan (Russia) and Baku (Azerbaijan) and will substantially cut cargo transportation time between India, the Central Asian region and Russia.

Besides, efforts will be made to push the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project, which is crucial for India’s energy needs as it will carry gas from Central Asia but has been hampered because of lack of physical connectivity.Security co-operation, including crucial terrorism connected exchange of information and counter-terrorism measures will be another focus area. In fact, the situation in Afghanistan post drawdown of NATO forces and ways to deal with terrorism and extremism will also be discussed. 

At BRICS, an economic co-operation strategy will be developed while exploring possibility of trade in local currency following the setting up of BRICS Development Bank. India is hoping to get membership of the six-nation grouping at the SCO Summit that also has China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. India at present has status of an observer as of now.