PM Modi Hosts First India-Central Asia Summit, Calls for Defining Ambitious Vision for Cooperation

Editor Foreign Affairs

New Delhi: In the first virtual India – Central Asia Summit hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he called for defining ambitious vision for cooperation between India and Central Asia in the coming years.

 

With the region being central to India’s vision of an integrated and stable extended neighbourhood, the Prime Minister set the tone for the Summit saying “we all are concerned about the Afghan situation and this makes cooperation between India and Central Asia all the more important for regional stability and security.”

The virtual summit saw the participation of five presidents — Kazakhstan’s Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan’s Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan’s Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyz Republic.

 

As the five leaders were unable to attend the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, India hosted the virtual summit.

Modi called for defining an ambitious vision for cooperation between India and Central Asia in the coming years. Mutual cooperation between India and Central Asia is essential for regional security and prosperity, Modi said.

 

The Summit is significant since these countries share borders with Afghanistan and China and are landlocked nations.

This is the first engagement of its kind between India and the Central Asian countries at the level of leaders. The first India-Central Asia Summit, the MEA had said, is a reflection of the country’s growing engagement with the Central Asian countries, which are a part of India’s “extended neighbourhood”.

Modi had paid a visit to all Central Asian countries in 2015. Subsequently, there have been exchanges at high levels at bilateral and multilateral fora.

For India, the Summit is of immense importance since it continues to have strained relations with China where the armies of the two countries have been facing off each other in the Northern borders. In Afghanistan, since the Taliban came to power in Kabul, the relations have been none too good since Pakistan has been one of the key nations which has been having cordial relations with Taliban.