India-Central Asia Summit: PM Modi going to hold important meeting today, also discussed in foreign media

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to host a summit for the first time with five countries of Central Asia today. It is being said that trade and energy will be the main topics in this summit, along with security challenges after the Taliban’s arrival in Afghanistan.

This summit is virtual. It includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said about this summit that it shows the importance of India’s growing activism in Central Asia and expanded neighbors. India has emphasized on giving priority to the new situations arising out of regional security.

India is going to host this summit at a time when there has been serious political instability in Kazakhstan and Russia, the power center of the region, is embroiled in Ukraine.

In August last year, the power of Afghanistan came into the hands of the Taliban and since then India has been concerned about its security and interests. In the midst of these concerns, India has increased its activism with the countries of Central Asia. In November and December last year, India had a meeting with the foreign ministers of these countries of Central Asia regarding Afghanistan.

In December, the foreign ministers of these five countries came to India after the meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in New Delhi, Pakistan. The meeting of the foreign ministers of the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) was held in Islamabad on December 19 last month regarding Afghanistan. Now once again India is going to pursue its strategy with Central-Asian countries.

Reports appeared in the Indian media that India was going to invite the heads of states of these five countries as guests in the 73rd Republic Day parade, but this could not happen due to the increasing cases of corona.

PM @narendramodi will be hosting the 1️⃣st India-Central Asia Summit in the virtual format today at 1630 IST.

With the participation of Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan, the Summit is all set to take our relations to newer heights! pic.twitter.com/UcdFdwYGiZ

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) January 27, 2022

Importance for India
The summits of India and Central Asian countries have also received attention in the foreign media. The Japanese newspaper Nikkei Asia also published a report on this on Wednesday.

Nikkei Asia wrote in its report, “The main themes of this summit are the challenges of extremism, terrorism, drug trafficking and migration in Afghanistan. This meeting will try to send a message that representation of all communities and women should be ensured in the Taliban government and only then it can get regional help.

Nikkei Asia wrote, “The instability in Afghanistan makes it difficult for India to reach Central Asia. Without connectivity, India cannot trade with Central Asia. The countries of Central Asia are important for India because they also want to reduce their dependence on China and increase economic relations with India.

Nikkei Asia wrote, “This week Chinese President Xi Jinping held an online meeting with the leaders of the countries of Central Asia. China has announced an aid of $ 500 million in this meeting. China is present in this area as an economic power while Russia as a military power. When there was political instability in Kazakhstan, Russia sent its troops there. Russia is the most important strategic side in Central Asia, but China has also emerged as an economic player. If there is no problem with connectivity, then India can also emerge as a party.

In this summit, Chabahar Port in India-backed Iran is being considered very important. It is also being called as India’s trade gateway to Central Asia. India can talk prominently on Chabahar in the summit with Central Asian countries.

The Chabahar project is very important for India because neighboring Pakistan has blocked the road to India to reach Afghanistan and Central Asia. Chabahar Port is near the Gulf of Oman. With this, India can reach directly through the sea. Indian companies are also likely to get an opportunity through this port in Iran. Along with this, reach will also increase in Central Asia and Russia.

Issues of negotiation
Apart from this, energy cooperation is also being told as an important issue in this summit. The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project has also been stalled for a long time. Pankaj Kumar Jha, Professor of Defense and Strategic Affairs at OP Jindal Global University from Nikkei Asia, said that the Taliban has assured about the safety of this pipeline. Pankaj Jha told Nikkei Asia, “If this project goes ahead, the energy cooperation between Central Asia and India will get off the ground.”

There can also be talk on increasing business in this summit. India’s trade with these countries is very less. It is a business of only two billion dollars. In this also the largest share is of energy imports from Kazakhstan. The relations of these five countries with Russia are also very good. These five countries were part of the Soviet Union. India also has a strategic partner of Russia.

Rajan Kumar is Associate Professor at the Center for Russian and Central Asia Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. On Russia’s role in strengthening India’s presence in Central Asia, he told BBC Hindi, “India can reach Central-Asia only through Russia. Iran is also an important country for India. If Pakistan has to bypass and reach Central-Asia through Chabahar, then only Iran will be useful. Iran cannot come because of America’s confrontation with India. Only Russia can help in this. If Russia wants that India should not be allowed to step into Central Asia, then it can do so. Russia also helps in international forums.

China’s argument

The newspaper Global Times, which is considered to be the mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party of China, has also written on the India-Central Asia Summit.

The Global Times wrote on 24 January, “India views Central Asia as an extended neighbour. It has been printed in the Indian media about this summit that India wants to stop the growing influence of China in Central Asia. The intention of the Modi government can be understood from this. The relationship between India and Central Asia has a long history. India wants to make its place in the affairs of Central Asia and also has an eye on the gas-oil industry here. Talks of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline have been going on since the 1990s but are still incomplete.

Global Times wrote, “Despite history, India has no influence in Central Asia. Economic connectivity between Central Asia and India is very weak. Because of this, India does not have much trade with Central Asia. Along with this, there is also a problem with infrastructure. The second factor is Pakistan. Pakistan is not giving way to India to reach Central Asia. India is trying to make a place here with America.