Jaishankar calls for deeper trade ties with Central Asian nations

Indian Express

a day ago

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his counterparts from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic here on Thursday and discussed ways to further boost India's cooperation with these Central Asian countries.
India is hosting the fourth edition of Central Asia Dialogue to forge a closer, wider and stronger partnership with the region, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Among leaders on the dais were Kazakhstan Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign minister Murat Nurtleu, Kyrgyz Republic's Foreign minister Jeenbek Kulubayev, Tajikistan's Foreign minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin, Turkmenistan's Foreign minister Rashid Meredov and Uzbekistan's Foreign minister Bakhtiyor Saidov. The ministers are attending the conclave to be held in Delhi on Friday.
Addressing the Foreign ministers at the India-Central Asia business council Thursday, Jaishankar said: 'India's trade and economic ties with Central Asia over the last decade have actually shown a very strong positive trend. Mutual trade was less than $500 million a decade ago in 2014… now a trade volume which is almost touching $2 billion.'
The EAM called for deepening the existing cooperation both in terms of 'volume and in terms of quality'. He also said that they need to 'diversify trade baskets' and introduce greater sustainability and more predictability in economic interactions and that means more long-term contracts and arrangements, cross investments, joint ventures and certainly sectors like energy — whether uranium, crude oil, gas, coal or fertilizers.
Flagging digital economy and innovation, the EAM said that E-commerce platforms, blockchains, cross-border digital payments are transforming the way the world interacts, trades and effects payments and India would be ready to partner on platforms like the UPI, Aadhaar, DigiLocker with the Central Asian partners.
In the field of Financial Services, Jaishankar said that closer engagements between banks and the financial sector will strengthen economic interaction. And he said they can facilitate mutual settlement of trade in national currencies.
On healthcare and pharma, he said that India supplies about 60 per cent of generic medicines globally, called for cooperation between drug Regulators and hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres, as well as the supply of medical equipment and devices.
Jaishankar also pitched for improving connectivity through INSTC(International North South Transport Corridor). Greater use of Chabahar port will surely reduce travel distance and costs, Jaishankar said.
'I certainly hope that we will get it in time because sometime in the not so distant future we would like to see a Leaders summit between India and the Central Asian Five,' he said.
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism '2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury's special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban's capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More