Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accomplished his eight day tour across Central Asia and Russia, with the highpoints of his trip being his presence in the BRICS and SCO summits and his bilateral meeting with Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
Starting from Uzbekistan where both the countries decided to boost ties in atomic energy, defence and trade fields, his next destination was neighbouring Kazakhstan. India and Kazakhstan signed five key agreements that included a defence pact to enhance military cooperation and a contract for supply of uranium. Modi and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayen held talks, jointly deciding to engage against terrorism and extremism. Other pacts included Treaty on Transfer of Sentenced Persons, human resources, cultural exchanges and capacity building.
Modi next flew to Ufa, Russia to attend BRICS and SCO summits where he held bilateral meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. He conveyed India's concerns to Jinping, regarding China's support to Pakistan in the United Nations over 26/11 mastermind Lakhvi. Both the leaders engaged in an 85 minute long meeting ahead of the two summits. The countries' progress in bilateral ties since their last meeting, cooperation in the BRICS grouping and the Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; India's second-largest shareholder and, reconstruction projects in quake hit Nepal, were the topics of deliberation.
He later met with Vladimir Putin who confirmed in advance that India was to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Both the leaders talked about the economic issues between the countries and the possibility of visa liberalisation. The most anticipated India Pakistan meet was held on the third day in Ufa when Prime Ministers of both the countries talked about terrorism, Mumbai attacks and other topics of importance.
The five nation BRICS summit attended by him, focused on economic and security cooperation and the six member group of the SCO summit saw India and Pakistan receive full membership. The fourth leg of Modi's agenda was Turkmenistan where he unveiled the bust of Mahatma Gandhi in the capital, inaugurated a traditional medicine and yoga centre and, visited the mausoleum of the first Turk President, at Niyazov. He issued a joint statement with the host country and proposed that it become a member of the International North South Transport Corridor. He also promoted for an early implementation of the USD 10 million TAPI project.
India and Kyrgyzstan on Sunday inked four agreements, including in defence cooperation and between their election commissions, as Narendra Modi held talks with President Almazbek Atambayev. The agreement on defence cooperation was in matters relating to defence, security, military education and training, conduct of joint military exercises, exchange of experience and information, exchange of military instructors and observers. Other two agreements signed were an MoU between Kyrgyzstan's economy ministry and the Bureau of Indian Standards on cooperation in the field of standards, and an agreement on cooperation in culture.
The tour concluded with President Emomali Rahmon at the Qasr-e-Millat where India assured its support to Tajikistan in the field of agriculture. Both sides inked agreements on culture and human resource development, and agreed to intensify cooperation to combat terrorism and extremism.
