India To Host First-Ever Central Asia Summit Today. Know Prominent Concerns To Be Addressed

The summit will be virtually attended by the heads of state of Central Asian countries, ANI reported.

File Photo: PIB

New Delhi: India is set to strengthen ties with Central Asian countries at the first India-Central Asia summit, hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, with the main focus, aside from security and the Afghanistan issue, being trade and connectivity, development partnership, culture and people contacts.

The summit will be virtually attended by the heads of state of Central Asian countries, ANI reported.

India maintains extensive bilateral connections with a number of Central Asian nations. In the Central Asian area, India-Kazakhstan commerce is the most important.

The two countries with the most trade in Central Asia (USD 1.9 billion in 2020-21) are India and Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan is a key partner with an Indian community of 8,000 people, including 5,000 medical students. Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's first president, will visit India; the Prime Minister will visit Kazakhstan in 2015 and 2017.

Both nations also conducted a one-of-a-kind experiment in UN peacekeeping. Kazakh troops are serving in UNIFIL as part of the Indian battalion. The sixth cycle is presently underway, and there is also a regular joint military exercise called KAZIND.

India has friendly ties with the Kyrgyz Republic. Six Kyrgyz presidents have visited India. PM Modi visited Kyrgyzstan in 2015 and 2019.

Former Kyrgyz President Jeenbekov was present at PM Modi's inauguration in May 2019.

India has constructed five telemedicine centres in the Kyrgyz Republic. Khanjar, an annual combined military exercise, is also held by both nations.

Tajikistan's relations are no different. President Rahman has visited India six times. In 2015, the Prime Minister paid a visit. In terms of defence, both countries work closely together.

In addition, there is the India-Tajik Friendship Hospital. In Afghanistan, India and Tajikistan have quite similar viewpoints.

The country's Andijan area and Gujarat work well along with key partner Uzbekistan. Bilateral commerce is valued at roughly USD 300 million.

There is also a trilateral working group on Chabahar that includes India, Uzbekistan, and Iran. In 2018, a USD 1 billion credit line was extended, and four projects totalling USD 450 million were authorised.

(With ANI Inputs)