Headlines
Modi on Central Asian tour, to visit Russia for BRICS, SCO summits
New Delhi, July 5
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
leaves on Monday on an eight-day tour that will take him to the five
Central Asian countries of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan,
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and to Ufa in Russia where he will attend the
BRICS and SCO back-to-back summits.
Modi will he the first Indian prime minister in recent times to visit all five Central Asian countries at one go.
Trade with the resource-rich region, in which China has made major inroads, stands at a paltry $1.6 billion.
Connectivity,
especially through the proposed North South Transport Corridor, will be
on top of the talks agenda between Modi and the Central Asian leaders.
India will seek to boost energy cooperation and trade with the five nations, which were part of the erstwhile Soviet Union.
In
Ufa, the summit of the five BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa -- comes as the board of governors of the BRICS
bank, called the New Development Bank, holds its first meet in on
Tuesday. The bank's president is India's M.V. Kamath.
Writing
about the visit on his Facebook page, Modi said his first stop will be
Uzbekistan, where he will hold talks with President Islam Karimov and
both sides would ink key agreements to strengthen cooperation.
Modi said he would be interacting with Indologists, students learning Hindi and members of the Indian community.
"It
was in Tashkent that we lost one of our most popular and respected
leaders, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri ji, who ignited our nation with the
clarion call of 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan'. I will be paying my tributes to
this proud son of India during the visit," Modi said.
In
Kazakhstan, his next stop which he will visit on July 7-8, Modi said he
will hold talks with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Prime Minister
Karim Massimov.
"There will be delegation level talks with
President Nazarbayev followed by the signing of documents and a joint
press statement," he said.
Modi said he looks forward to interacting with the youth of Kazakhstan at the Nazarbayev University.
He
will also inaugurate the India-Kazakhstan Centre for Excellence in
Information and Communication Technology at the L.N. Gumilev Eurasian
National University and also join a wreath-laying ceremony and planting
of sapling at the Monument of Defenders of Motherland.
Modi will then visit Ufa for the 7th BRICS Summit and SCO Summit.
He expressed hope that the BRICS summit would build on the ground covered during the last summit in Fortaleza, Brazil.
"I expect positive outcomes in economic cooperation and cultural ties among the BRICS nations."
Modi
said he will be meeting the leaders - Brazil's President Dilma
Rousseff, China's Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin and South Africa's
Jacob Zuma - individually too at the Ufa and also meet business
leaders.
At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, India is an observer but is hoping to be included as a permanent member.
He flies to Turkmenistan on July 11 -- in the first visit by an Indian prime minister after P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1995.
Modi
said he will hold talks with President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, which
would be followed by signing of agreements and a meeting with the
press.
Areas for boosting ties include tourism, fertilizers, space, science and technology and defence.
"Our bilateral trade is way below its potential and I am confident we can improve it," Modi said.
He
will also inaugurate a statue of Mahatma Gandhi and a Traditional
Medicine and Yoga Centre and also lay wreath at the mausoleum of the
first president.
His next visit on July 12 would be to Kyrgyzstan, in the first prime ministerial visit in the last 20 years.
Modi
would hold talks with President Almazbek Atambaye and also meet Prime
Minister Semir Tariyev and Speaker of the Parliament Asylbek Jeenbekov.
India is gifting medical equipment to Kyrgyz Field Hospital.
Modi
will inaugurate tele-medicine links, which shall promote medical
tourism from Kyrgyzstan to India. A statue of Mahatma Gandhi will also
be unveiled.
"I will have the opportunity to visit the
Kyrgyz-India Mountain Biomedical Research Centre and join the Wreath
Laying Ceremony at the Victory Monument in Bishkek," he said.
On
Tajikistan, his last stop, Modi said the last prime ministerial visit
from India was by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in November
2003.
He said India and Tajikistan have a strategic partnership
and very strong defence cooperation, but economic cooperation has been
limited and the scope of growth was immense. Bilateral trade has huge
potential.
"My visit will build on the existing strong diplomatic
and defence ties and script a fresh chapter in our economic ties. I
look forward to meeting President Emomali Rahmon. Key agreements will
also be signed after our meeting. I will gifting medicines for the
India-Tajikistan Friendship Hospital," he said.
A statue of Rabindranath Tagore will also be unveiled in Dushanbe.