Turkmenistan President To Visit India

It is Central-West Asian season in the ministry of external affairs, with the visit of Turkmenistan president Saparmurad Niyazov coming close on the heels of the signing of a trilateral agreement on trade and transit between India, Iran and Turkmenistan.

A ministry spokesman said the agreement, signed during the visit of external affairs minister I K Gujral to Teheran, will provide a boost to Indian trade in Central Asia.

The pact will allow Indian ships to dock at the Iranian port of Bandarabbas, and via the rail network that connects Iran and Turkmenistan, goods can access Central Asia and even eastern China.

 

Niyazov will sign four agreements during his second visit to India on health and medicines, environment and forestry, avoidance of double taxation, and for a cultural exchange programme. He will also meet Indian businessmen at a function organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).

High on the agenda of Niyazovs meetings with the Indian leadership will be the situation in Afghanistan which is being overrun by the pro-Pakistani Taliban militia.

So far, however, Askhabad has made clear with its openly proclaimed principle of positive neutrality that it does not support any side in the Afghan war.

Gujrals visit to Teheran over the weekend will also provide him with inputs for talks with Niyazov, since Iran and the Taliban are fiercely antagonistic to each other.

India had provided Turkmenistan with a $5 million credit line during the visit of former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao to that country in September 1995, which has since been used up.

Another credit of $5 million is on offer at the moment.