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Date: 11 April 2008, NEW DELHI:
The stage has been set for a more vibrant relationship between
India, and Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, according to
Vice-President Hamid Ansari who returned home on Thursday
after a weeklong visit to these key Central Asian countries.
Interacting with the media on board his special plane, he said
there was a "clearer appreciation of India and the Indians" in
the two countries as result of his visit.
Economic relationships
In this time and age, it was "economic relationships" that
provided the prime focus in ties between any two countries,
and it was up to the government and the private sector to
"explore and intensify" a match-up between "Indian
capabilities" and the Central Asian "capacity."
Mr. Ansari said that as a growing economy, "we need markets;
these countries are new markets" and it was time Indian
businessmen had an appreciation of the "difficulties" in
gaining an entree in these markets, just as the Americans,
Europeans and Chinese had.
Political signal
Apart from the "political signal" for cooperation in the
energy sector between India and these two countries, there was
considerable promise in a Kazakh suggestion of cooperation in
food production, the Vice-President felt.
An idea, informally attributed to Kazakh President Nursultan
Nazarbayev, is to explore the possibility of Indian food
production enterprises getting access to Kazakhstan's vast
landmass. The Kazakh law permits leasing of land to foreigners
for 10 years in one go.
The officials travelling with the Vice-President believe that
this is a workable proposition, given India's new concerns on
food security.
Boost to energy ties
They also believe that as a result of the Ansari visit,
cooperation in the energy sector would get acceleration. The
two sides are in an advanced stage of consultation on "the
access issue."
New routes and new modes of transportation of oil and gas
through Afghanistan and Pakistan are being continuously
studied and discussed.
"Technical consultation is on; procedural and administration
wrinkles are being ironed out," noted Mr. Ansari.
Pharmaceuticals, textile, and education are the other areas
identified for deeper economic ties.
According to E. Ahamed, Minister of State for External
Affairs, who accompanied Mr. Ansari, it has been decided that
India will set up an Information Technology Centre in
Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat.
Source: Hindu |