The foreign minister of central Asian countries and India's external affairs minister will meet virtually to discuss many issues including connectivity. While Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will be represented on FMs level, Kyrgyzstan will be represented by First Deputy Foreign Minister.
Given how central Asia is geographically connected with Afghanistan, Acting Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammed Haneef Atmar has also been invited.
A release from India's Ministry of External Affairs said, "The Ministers will exchange views on a wide gamut of areas including political, security, economic and commercial, humanitarian and cultural spheres as well as on regional and international issues of mutual interest."
India and central Asian countries are working to start an air corridor to boost connectivity as well as increase trade. India already has an air corridor with Afghanistan, that has been bringing Afghan products to cities like New Delhi and Mumbai. Focus is also on how Chabahar port in Iran can help increase India's connectivity to Central Asia via Afghanistan.
India's Ambassador to Uzbekistan Manish Prabhat recently said that New Delhi is "working on the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and Uzbekistan can also become its member. An air corridor between India and Central Asia is also being worked on. Indian carriers should also target direct flights to Uzbekistan.”
This is the second such India Central Asia Dialogue, a platform created to increase and strengthen cooperation between New Delhi and the Central Asian region. The inaugural meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue was jointly organized by India and Uzbekistan on 13 January 2019 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
