29 January 2022, NIICE Commentary 7626
Dr. Rashmini Koparkar
India’s engagements with the Central Asian region have seen an upper trajectory in the last couple of years. The virtual ‘India-Central Asia Summit’ held on 27 January 2022 can be considered as a peak in these relations. This first of the kind event was hosted by Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi and was attended by the Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. This summit marked the completion of 30 years of diplomatic relations; and spelled out an ambitious vision for the future course of relations.
During his opening remarks, Indian PM reiterated, “Central Asia is central to India’s vision of an integrated and stable extended neighbourhood”. He also stated the objectives of this exercise, as cooperation in regional security, framework of interactions, and roadmap for cooperation. Key outcomes of this summit include establishment of the ‘India-Central Asia Centre’ in New Delhi that would act as a secretariat for future summits; joint working group on Chabahar Port; joint working group on Afghanistan; holding of joint counter-terror exercises; and annual ministerial meetings at foreign, trade and cultural levels. India has agreed to receive a 100-member youth delegation annually, and to train the diplomats from these countries. These initiatives are consistent with India’s expanding cooperation with the region.
India’s proactive engagements with Central Asia can, in fact, be seen as part of its wider foreign policy framework. Under Narendra Modi’s premiership, India has expanded the scope of its relations with all the surrounding regional blocks. Invitation to the South Asian leaders to attend PM’s 2014 swearing-in ceremony was a case in point. This was followed by various multilateral initiatives with Central Asia, Africa, the Gulf, South East Asia and Pacific Island countries. These diplomatic advances indicate three major objectives. Firstly, it shows how India is trying to balance its relations with the maritime as well as continental domain. Secondly, it is testimony to India’s status as an emerging power that can engage all the regional countries at a single forum. Thirdly, it underscores the importance attributed to smaller countries in light of India’s commitment towards ‘development partnerships’.
The recently concluded India-Central Asia summit has, time and again, underlined the significance of Central Asia for India. The region is centrally located. Although ‘landlocked’, it acts as a bridge between various regions, and is critical in various connectivity projects. Further, it is abundant in natural resources, including crude oil, natural gas and uranium, which can be a boon for energy-hungry countries like India. Also, with about 72 million population, it is a potential market for Indian goods and services. Lastly, these countries have faced number of security challenges, more so because of their proximity with Afghanistan. The situation has worsened in the wake of the Taliban resurgence.
India has been constantly expanding its relations with the five Central Asian republics. Although ‘Connect Central Asia’ policy was launched in 2012, real boost came with PM Modi’s visit to these countries in July 2015. In fact, he became the first Indian PM to visit all five republics of Central Asia. This was followed by India’s membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in June 2017, which was supported by all member-countries of the region. The ‘India-Central Asia Dialogue’ at foreign ministers’ rank was launched in January 2019 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. These efforts at the highest level were backed by continuous exchange of visits at the Ministerial and Senior Officials level. The relations have expanded in arenas like defence, counter-terrorism, trade, investments, energy, science and technology, education, skill development, health, pharmaceuticals and culture. In 2020, India announced the USD 1 billion Line of Credit for the infrastructure development projects in connectivity, energy, education and healthcare. Moreover, the supply of essential medical aid and made-in-India vaccines was crucial in these countries’ fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trade and connectivity remain one of the delicate links in these relations. India’s combined trade with all five countries stands at around USD 2 billion, of which major chunk is energy imports from Kazakhstan. This is much below potential, and efforts are underway to address the issues. The ‘India-Central Asia Business Council’ was set up in 2020 for promoting trade and investments. To this end, India is also committed to its connectivity projects in the region, including International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), Chabahar Port and Ashgabat Agreement. India has already risen as one of the leaders in the fields of education, skill development and IT. In Central Asia, India’s greatest strength lies in its soft power. Indian movies, TV serials, music, dance, food and Yoga are very popular in these countries, which has created a positive attitude and goodwill towards the nation.
At the backdrop of the Afghan situation, India considers Central Asian republics as important stakeholders, and has tried to engage them at various levels. Indian Minister of External Affairs has visited Central Asia number of times since the crisis broke out in Afghanistan. Security advisers from all five countries participated in ‘Regional Security Dialogue’ hosted by the Indian National Security Adviser in Delhi in November 2021. The sides have reiterated their position of creation of an inclusive government in Kabul, protection of rights of minorities and women, and combating terrorism. The current summit also discussed the Afghan issue at length, as the common concerns were highlighted.
Central Asia has always attracted a number of regional and extra-regional powers because of its location and recourses. Russia continues to exert its strategic dominance, which re-surfaced during the recent crisis in Kazakhstan. China has recently become the largest trade and investment partner in the region. Its economic might is also evident from its push to various infrastructure and connectivity projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In the China-Central Asia Summit held on 25 January, it announced USD 500 million as assistance and pledged to ramp up trade. Nevertheless, non-transparent nature of the projects, debt default and expanding cultural footprint have raised concerns among policy-makers in the region. In such a scenario, Central Asian establishments are looking towards India as an alternative player to diversify relations. India, on the other hand, is trying to navigate itself among other actors. The India-Central Asia summit can be considered an important step in strengthening Indian position in Central Asia, which has opened new vistas of partnership.
Dr. Rashmini Koparkar is Assistant Professor at Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.
