INDIA’S ECONOMIC TIES WITH CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLICS: SOME REFLECTIONS

The five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – became independent in the early 1990s, more precisely after the fall of the Soviet Union. The region has been endowed with abundant availability of natural mineral resources like uranium ore, hydrocarbon deposits, vast hydropower potential etc. That made the region of great significance and prime attention of international powers. Central Asia therefore emerged as a pivot for intra and intercontinental trade and economic linkages. India took keen interests in the region. India's major concerns with the Central Asian Republics include energy security, trade, investment, infrastructure development, fight against Islamic fundamentalism and so on. It is in this backdrop, India's perceptions and policies towards Central Asia have been of immense significance, which has been the subject matter of this paper.