as a joint statement at the end of India-Central Asia Virtual Summit It was noted on Thursday that relations between India and the region have historically been close with “civilization, cultural, trade and people-to-people ties”, but the lack of access to land routes and the situation in Afghanistan are among the biggest challenges. is one of , Hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Presidents of the five Central Asian Republics (CAR), it was the first building based on years of interaction. The summit also took place after the NSA meeting in Delhi, where they built on a number of common topics of concern and priority. First, there is the problem of routing trade – only $2 billion is spent mostly on Kazakhstan’s energy exports to India. In comparison, China’s CAR trade figures exceeded $41 billion – they could double by 2030 – plus billions of dollars have been invested in the Belt and Road Initiative. With Pakistan refusing India’s transit trade, New Delhi’s other option is to ease the route through Iran’s Chabahar port, but that would involve more investment in rail and road routes to Iran’s northern borders along the CAR India is hesitant to do something like this. US sanctions. The third option is to use the Russia-Iran International North-South Transport Corridor through the port of Bandar Abbas, but this is not fully operational and at least two of the CARs (Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) are not members. India, too, has dragged its feet on the TAPI gas pipeline plans (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) due to supply guarantees, given the tension with Pakistan. Finally, there is Afghanistan: the weak link between Central Asia and South Asia, where, after the takeover of the Taliban, there is no official government, a humanitarian crisis is brewing, and there are concerns of terrorism and radicalization spreading across its borders. Each of the themes in the summit joint statement outlined areas to be worked on. They have also agreed for more structured engagement, including the establishment of Joint Working Groups on Afghanistan and Chabahar, and greater educational and cultural opportunities.
While India’s attempt to institutionalize exchanges and press the pedal on trade, investment and development partnership with CAR is timely, it is by no means the only country to strengthen its ties. While Russia is the most strategic player, China is now the largest development and infrastructure partner for the countries. The CAR presidents had previously held a similar virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Pakistan has increased its access to the CAR by signing transit trade agreements, offering trade access to the Indian Ocean at Gwadar and Karachi. India will need to move tactfully to ensure that it keeps pace with changes, and to ensure that the future of the relationship more closely resembles the deeper ties of the distant past.
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