Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministerial Visits (Central Asian Countries): Key Features

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Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministerial Visits

1. Uzbekistan (6 July)

President – Islam Karimov

PM – Shavkat Mirjyoyev

Capital – Tashkent

Currency – Uzbekistan Som

Agreements Signed (7):

1. Economic and Strategic ties : Enhance strategic, economic and energy ties along with reviewing key regional issues including the situation in Afghanistan.

2. Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism : To intensify security cooperation and exchanges for combating terrorism, promoting regional integration and advancing stability in the region.

3. Defence and cyber security : Enhance cooperation in the fields of defence and cyber security.

4. Uranium supply contract: Implement the contract which was signed in 2014 for supply of 2,000 metric tonnes of the Uranium from mineral rich Uzbekistan to India.

5. Strengthening cooperation : In the areas of information technology, agriculture and energy.

6. International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC): India asked Uzbekistan to be part of INSTC similar to Ashgabat Agreement which is s a transit pact between Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Oman established in 2011.

7. It should be noted that INSTC is a ship, road and rail route for moving freight between India, Iran, Russia, Europe and Central Asia.

Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministerial Visits:

2. Kazakhstan (7th July):

President : Nursultan Nazarbayev 

PM : Karim Massimov

Capital : Astana

Currency : Tenge

Agreements Signed (5) :

1. Agreement on Defence and Military : Both nations will form joint working group (JWG) on counter terrorism, defence training, exercise and production of defence equipment.

2. MoU on Cooperation on Physical Cultural and Sports : It was signed between India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Culture and Sports.

3. MoU on Technical Cooperation in the field of Railways : It was signed between India’s Ministry of Railways and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy.

4. Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons : It will facilitate swapping to prisoners from both countries to serve their remaining sentence in home country.

5. Agreement on supply of Uranium to India : Kazakhstan the world’s largest producer of uranium will supply a total of 5,000 tonnes of the natural uranium to India during the 2015-19.

# Apart from signing these agreements, India has also shown interest in :

1.  Fertilizer sector in Kazakhstan due to abundance availability of Natural Gas.

2. Hydro carbon sectors of Kazakhstan for drilling and production of crude oil

Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministerial Visit:

3. Turkmenistan (10-11 July)

President : Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow

PM : Akja Nurberdiyewa

Capital : Ashgabat

Currency : Turkmen New Manat

Agreements Signed (7) :

1. MoU on Supply of Chemical Products : It was signed between the India’s ‘Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers  Limited’ and the Turkmenistan’s Turkmenhimiya’.

2. MoU Foreign Service Institutes of both nations: It was signed between Foreign Service Institute of the Ministry of External Affairs of India and Institute of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.

3. Agreement on Cooperation in the field of Sports: It was signed between Union Ministry of Youth Affairs And Sports of India and State Committee for Sport of Turkmenistan.

4. Programme of Cooperation In Science And Technology: It was signed between both governments for the period of two years viz. 2015-2017.

5. MoU on Cooperation in Yoga and Traditional Medicine: It was signed between respective entities of both governments.

6. MoU on Cooperation in the Field Of Tourism: It was signed between respective entities of both governments.

7. Agreement in the field of Defence: It was signed between respective entities of both governments.

Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministerial Visit:

4. Tajikistan (12 July):

President : Emomalli Rahmon

PM : Kokhir Rasulzoda

Capital : Dushanbe

Currency : Somni

Agreements Signed (2) :

1. Programme of Cooperation (POC) in the field of Culture : It was signed between Ministries of Culture of India and Tajikistan for the years 2016-18. It envisages cooperation in the field of culture between both nations through exchange of expertise for protection, preservation and promotion of cultural heritage. It also seeks to exchange of information and experts and organization of cultural days for greater cultural understanding between the countries.

2. Exchange of Note Verbale (NV) on setting up of Computer Labs : It conveys the intention of India to set up computer labs in 37 schools in Tajikistan. With this initiative India’s seeks to support Tajikistan in human resource and skill development efforts.

#Besides signing these pacts, both leaders Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Emomali Rahmon, President of Tajikistan agreed to promote the International North South transport corridor (INSTC). Both nations also pledged to further deepen their cooperation to fight the menace of radical terrorism and agreed to step up defence ties besides boosting trade and investment

Narendra Modi’s Prime Ministerial Visit:

5. Kyrgyzstan (12 July):

President : Almazbek Atambayev

PM : Temir Sariyev

Capital : Bishkek

Currency : Som

Agreements Signed (4) :

1. Agreement on Defence Cooperation: It was signed to deepen cooperation between both countries in matters relating to security, defence, military education and training.

. It also covers provisions to conduct of joint military exercises, exchange of military instructors, exchange of experience and information and observers etc.

2. MoU and Cooperation in the field of Elections: It was signed to deepen cooperation in matters relating to legislation on elections and referendums. It also covered rights of elections process stakeholders, modern systems and technologies as well as other issues of election administration.

3. MoU on cooperation in the sphere of Standards: Seeks to strengthen and enhance technical cooperation in the fields of conformity assessment, standardization and sharing of expertise on mutual trade.

• It also aims at exchanging necessary information and expertise in this regard between the two parties. Signatory parties are Ministry of Economy of Kyrgyzstan and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

4. Agreement on Cooperation in Culture: To deepen cultural cooperation between both countries in areas such as preservation of cultural heritage, theatre, youth festivals and organisation of folk arts.

• It also seeks to boost cooperation in of publishing and translation of literature, culture, sports and physical exchange of archival materials, geography, history etc.