Erlan Abdyldaev, the Foreign Minister of Kyrgyz Republic visited India

Erlan Abdyldaev, the Foreign Minister of Kyrgyz Republic was on an official visit to India from 13 to 15 February 2014. During this India visit of Abdyldaev, the two sides also exchanged documents to make functional a bilateral treaty on mutual legal assistance and an agreement on visa free travel for diplomatic, official and service passport holders.

He visited India on the invitation of Salman Khurshid, External Affairs Minister of India. Apart from Salman Khurshid, during the visit he also met with

• EM Sudarsana Natchiappan, Minister of State for Commerce and Industries
• He also interacted with the think tank, India Central Asia Foundation and with the India-Kyrgyz Friendship Society
• The two sides also reviewed the significant process made in bilateral relations and noted common positions on current international and regional issues

In recent years the Kyrgyz Republic has chosen a political path of parliamentary democracy that is similar to India's. In this context the two sides agreed to intensify parliamentary exchanges and the Indian side welcomed the proposed visit of a Kyrgyz Parliamentary delegation to India later in 2014.

During the meeting, the two sides also expressed satisfaction with the progress on the implementation of the protocol of the 6th India-Kyrgyz Republic Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation held in Bishkek in July 2013.

The two sides also discussed and agreed to take new steps to stimulate bilateral trades and they observed that the trade levels between the two countries were below potential. Kyrgyz Republic and India also noted the scope of cooperation in fields of pharmaceuticals, transport and communication, mining, education, textiles and garment industries, health and tourism as priority sectors for promotion of bilateral investments.

Kyrgyz side proposed a joint theatrical production of the epic Manas and also discussed cooperation in the field of film making. The two sides also agreed to continue their close cooperation in the UN. In the context of UN reform, the Kyrgyz side supported permanent membership for India in the United Nations Security Council. The Kyrgyz side also supported full membership for India in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

Some examples of partnership of India with Kyrgyz Republic are
• Commissioning of a potato processing plant in Talas
• Implementation of the IT Centre of Excellence in Bishkek that has been planned for pan Central Asia e-network