India-Central Asia Virtual Summit: Delhi Declaration adopted, Key focus on trade, connectivity

India-Central Asia Virtual Summit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the first-ever India-Central Asia Summit virtually on January 27, 2022. The Presidents of five Central Asian nations attended the summit including Uzbekistan's Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Kazakhstan's Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz Republic's Sadyr Japarov, Tajikistan's Emomali Rahmon and Turkmenistan's Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.

This is the first time that such a high-level summit was held between India and the Central Asian nations. It coincided with the completion of 30 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Central Asian countries.

PM Modi during his opening address said that the cooperation between India and Central Asia has achieved many successes over the past three decades and that we must now define an ambitious vision for the coming years as well. The summit aimed to pay the way for the adoption of an integrated approach for regional connectivity and cooperation for the next 30 years.

India's relations with Central Asian Nations

PM Modi during his speech highlighted how India has close relations with all the Central Asian countries at the bilateral level. 

-Kazakhstan is a vital partner for India's energy security. 

-Several Indian state governments including Gujarat play an active role in the growing cooperation with Uzbekistan. 

-India also has an active partnership with Kyrgyzstan in education and high-altitude research. Thousands of Indian students are studying in Kyrgyzstan. 

-India has longstanding cooperation in the field of security with Tajikistan and is continuously working to strengthen the cooperation. 

-Turkmenistan plays a significant role in India's vision in the field of regional connectivity. India had also participated in the Ashgabat Agreement.

India-Central Asia Summit 

Prime  Minister Narendra Modi outlined three main objectives of the summit, which are as follows:

1. To make it clear that cooperation between India and Central Asia is essential for regional security and prosperity.

2. To give an effective structure to the cooperation between India and Central Asian countries, which includes the establishment of a framework of regular interactions at different levels and among various stakeholders.

3. To create an ambitious roadmap for our cooperation.

India-Central Asia Virtual Summit- Outcome

During the India-Central Asia Virtual Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Central Asian Leaders discussed steps to take India-Central Asia relations to new heights. The leaders discussed and agreed to institutionalize the Summit mechanism by deciding to hold it every 2 years. 

They also agreed on holding regular meetings of Foreign Ministers, Culture Ministers, Trade Ministers and Secretaries of the Security Council to do the groundwork ahead of the Summit meetings. An India-Central Asia Secretariat will be set up in New Delhi to support the new mechanism.

On Afghanistan

The Leaders discussed the evolving situation in Afghanistan and its impact on the region's security and stability and reiterated strong support for a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan. They also agreed to set up a joint working group on Afghanistan at the senior officials' level. 

The leaders adopted a comprehensive Joint Declaration called the 'Delhi Declaration' that showcases their common vision to build a comprehensive and enduring India-Central Asia partnership.  

Delhi Declaration: Know in 10 points

1. The joint declaration called upon other central Asian countries to consider joining the connectivity initiatives of India and Central Asian member nations such as the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and Ashgabat Agreement (a multimodal transport agreement between India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Oman).

2. The leaders agreed to deepen cooperation in areas of trade and connectivity, development cooperation, defence and security, cultural and people-to-people contacts. They also agreed that connectivity initiatives should be based on the principles of transparency and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.

3. The leaders welcomed India's proposal to establish a joint working group on Chabahar Port to address issues of free movements of goods and services. India also welcomed the interest of Central Asian countries to utilize the services of Shahid Beheshti Terminal at Chabahar Port in order to facilitate trade with India and other external markets.

4. The leaders also supported India's proposal to include the Chabahar Port and Turkmenistan's proposal to include Turkmenbashi Port within the framework of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

5. The leaders also agreed to continue engagement for further developing the transit and transport potential of their countries by improving the region's logistics network and promoting joint initiatives to create regional and international transport corridors.

6. The leaders also agreed on the need to continue large-scale and long-term economic cooperation between India and Central Asian countries to strengthen and expand inter-connectivity. Turkmenistan President stressed on the importance of the TAPI gas pipeline project in the context of the same.

7. The leaders also noted that the current level of trade and investments between their nations and India is far from its true potential and highlighted the need to make focussed efforts to boost trade and investment in various sectors including healthcare, education and information technology.

8. The leaders also welcomed the direct contact between Indian states and regions of Central Asian countries.

9. The leaders further directed their Ministers to prepare a roadmap to enhance trade and industrial cooperation between India and the Central Asian countries and encouraged the India-Central Asia Business Council (ICABC) to accelerate their efforts to promote business linkages between the countries. 

10. They also took note of the proposal to set up an India-Central Asia Investment Club under the India-Central Asia Business Council in order to boost investment opportunities in each other's countries.

Background

The India-Central Asia Summit was supposed to be held physically but was turned to a virtual one due to the ongoing COVID situation in the country.  The summit is a reflection of India's growing engagement with the Central Asian countries, which are a part of India's "Extended Neighbourhood".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had paid historic visit to all Central Asian countries in 2015. There have been high-level exchanges at bilateral and multilateral forums since then. 

India and the central Asian countries set up India-Central Asia Dialogue at the Foreign Ministers' level, the 3rd meeting of which was held in New Delhi from December 18-20, 2021.