India extends one billion dollar lines of credit to Central Asian countries

A special emphasis was laid on the importance of connectivity in increasing trade and commerce between India and Central Asia in the second meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue held via video conference in New Delhi on Thursday.

New Delhi:With India's efforts to boost its role as a transparent development partner, the country on Wednesday extended a $1-billion line of credit to Central Asian countries for priority projects in connectivity, energy, Information Technology (IT) and health care.

The line of credit was welcomed by ministers of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan during the second meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue held via video conference under the chairmanship of external affairs minister S Jaishankar. Acting Afghan foreign minister Haneef Atmar joined the meeting as a special invitee.

India's relation with Central Asia has a long history. The two regions have shared deep cultural linkages over two millennia in terms of people to people contact, trade, and commerce.

During the dialogue, the leaders assessed the first meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue held on 13 January 2019 in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) in establishing a platform for strengthening cooperation between India and the Central Asian countries in political, security, economic and commercial, development partnership, humanitarian and cultural spheres as well as exchanging views on regional and international issues of mutual interest and enhancing cooperation under the framework of UN and other multilateral fora.

They called for building a comprehensive and enduring India-Central Asia partnership based on their historical, cultural and civilizational bonds as well as traditionally close people-to-people contacts.

The meeting discussed cooperation in political and security matters, and all the countries called for settling the Afghan conflict on the principle of an “Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled peace process," according to a joint statement.

The countries also condemned terrorism and reaffirmed their determination to destroy terrorist safe havens, networks, and funding channels.

Besides that, special emphasis was laid on close cooperation between the Sanitary and Epidemiological Services of India and the Central Asian countries in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic.

It is worth noting that the Ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan acknowledged India’s humanitarian medical assistance to their countries in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic.

In an unstated reference to Pakistan, the joint statement said: “They also underlined the need for every country to ensure that its territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks against other countries.”

However, the ministers strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reaffirmed the determination of their countries to combat this menace by destroying terrorist safe-havens, networks, infrastructure and funding channels.

The Ministers underscored the importance of humanitarian, cultural, educational and tourism cooperation between India and the Central Asian countries. Increasing tourism arrivals, creating tourism trails across the region, making the visa process simpler and encouraging investment in tourism infrastructure was emphasized.

Taking note of a large number of students from India and the Central Asian countries studying in each other’s higher educational institutions, they stressed on the need to ensure the importance of ensuring their social welfare.

Jaishankar told the meeting: “India and Central Asia share ancient historical and cultural linkages. We consider Central Asia as India’s ‘extended neighbourhood’.”

He added, “We face common challenges of terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking. All these commonalities make us a natural partner in our developmental journey.”

Besides the $1-billion line of credit, India offered grant assistance for high impact community development projects to boost socio-economic development in Central Asia.

A special emphasis was laid on the importance of connectivity in increasing trade and commerce between India and Central Asia, and appreciated New Delhi’s efforts to modernise Chabahar port in Iran as an important link in trade and transport between markets in Central and South Asia, the joint statement said.

The ministers agreed to promote joint initiatives to create regional and international transport corridors.

Moreover, a joint decision was taken to continue holding the annual meetings of the India-Central Asia Dialogue with the participation of Afghanistan, alternately in India and the interesting Central Asian countries.