PM Narendra Modi outlines stronger ties at India-Central Asia meet

Deepening connectivity, trade and economic relations, including a joint working group on Chabahar Port, were discussed at the first India-Central Asia summit hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi

A new institutionalised summit-level dialogue between India and the five Central Asian Republics (CARs) —Kazakhstan, Kyrgy¬zstan, Tajikistan, Turk¬menistan, and Uzbekistan — was flagged off at a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Presidents of the CARs, the first-ever, at which deepening connectivity, trade and economic ties were discussed, including a joint working group (JWG) on Chabahar Port.

The India-CAR summit came days after a similar summit held between Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and the CARs. Afghanistan and the ‘extended neighbourhood’ featured prominently in the discussions, and a JWG of officials will be instituted on Afghanistan. However a spokesman from the foreign office said the issue of Ukraine (which is Kazakhstan’s neighbour) and a possible imminent launch of military forces by Russia in Ukraine ‘was not discussed’ at the meeting.

A spokesman said ‘regional’ rather than bilateral issues were addressed and the proposed Turkmenistan-Afgh¬anistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, as well as the app¬roach to the Chabahar Port, was flagged. The pipeline aims to bring 33 billion cubic metres of gas from Turkmenistan to India, but has stayed stalled. As TAPI will pass through Afghanistan, buy-in by the Taliban government is crucial.

On January 16, at a meeting in Turkmenistan, the Taliban government and Turkmenistan announced the project will recommence in Afghanistan in March 2022. The Pakistan leg of the pipeline also represents a challenge. But the joint statement issued after the summit meeting noted that “the President of Turkmenistan stressed on the importance of the TAPI gas pipeline project”, suggesting it was Turkmenistan that will do the heavy diplomatic lifting on the project. The Indian spokesman said discussions between the ‘consortium partners’ were on.

The International North-South Transport Corridor and the Ashgabat Agreement on International Transport and Transit Corridor has been stymied because of Pakistan’s refusal to extend overland connectivity to India. India, Iran, and Uzbekistan have in the past discussed the joint use of the Chabahar Port in Iran. Thursday’s joint statement, significantly announcing a JWG on Chabahar Port initiated by India, was welcomed by the CARs “to address issues of free movements of goods and services between India and Central Asian countries”.

The joint statement said all agreed “connectivity initiatives should be based on the principles of transparency, broad participation, local priorities, financial sustainability, and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries”. There was extended discussion on the situation in Afghanistan and the joint statement agreed to provide humanitarian aid to the people of that country. A JWG on Afghanistan at senior official-level will be set up. The statement noted there is a broad ‘regional consensus’ on the issues related to Afghanistan.

Comparisons will inevitably be made between the summit hosted by China and the one hosted by India, days apart. Unlike India which sought a regional approach, the summit between CARs and China was more bilateral in nature. Chinese media reported that Tajik President Emomali Rahmon spoke of the need to expand security cooperation in the light of threats from Afghanistan. Turkmenistan's Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow suggested increasing natural gas supplies to China by building another pipeline. Uzbekistan’s Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kyrgyzstan's Sadyr Japarov called for construction of a long-mooted China-Kyrg¬yzstan-Uzbekistan railroad.

President Xi promised to open China’s domestic market to more Central Asian goods and agricultural products, local reports said. Trade relations between CARs and China – and India – cannot be compared as there is a wide gulf: the Chinese state-run People’s Daily says trade turnover between China and the Central Asian region is likely to touch $70 billion by 2030.

In the last 20 years, the figure has grown twenty-five-fold in the last 20 years, from $1.5 billion to $38.6 billion in 2020. With India, trade amounts to $2 billion. In 2021, India announced a $1 billion line of credit for infrastructure development projects in Central Asian countries, and grants for community development projects for socioeconomic development.