Sunday, Nov 09, 2003
Sunday, Nov 09, 2003 |
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The External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, who is on a three-day visit to Uzbekistan, told reporters here today that the tri-lateral Indo-Afghan-Iranian accord on building the road would reduce the distance from India to Central Asia by 1,500 km. ``We have also decided to add a rail link too,'' Mr. Sinha said. The 200 km Zaranj-Delaran sector of the proposed transport corridor is already complete on which India has spent $ 70 million. Under the agreements reached by Mr. Sinha with the Uzbek leadership, Uzbekistan will build a highway linking the Afghan port of Khairaton with Herat and India would negotiate with the Government in Kabul to extend the Zaranj-Delaran sector to Herat in western Afghanistan. He said after the agreement with the Kabul Government finances would be worked out. The proposed road and rail link, which will take some years to materialise, will provide for the transport corridor bypassing Pakistan. ``India will be a major player in this transport project,'' the Uzbek Foreign Minister, Sadiq Safayev, said. He hinted that Tashkent's focus had shifted from Karachi to Mumbai for access to a global marketplace. Mr. Sinha held intensive parleys with Safayev, Defence Minister, Kodir Gulomov, and the Prime Minister, Utkir Sultanov, on wide-ranging bilateral and international issues including anti-terror combat. The parleys were crowned by a meeting with the Uzbek President, Islam Karimov. `Unexpectedly wide-ranging issues' were discussed during Mr. Sinha's meeting with Mr. Karimov, which included closer defence and security cooperation between Tashkent and New Delhi, sources in Mr. Sinha's delegation said. Tashkent's aircraft factory building heavy transport aircraft is to supply Il-76 platform for the Phalcon AWACS being acquired from Israel under a multi-billion dollar deal. Mr. Sinha delivered a keynote address at the third India-Central Asia conference organised by the top Indian thinktank — Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses in cooperation with the Uzbek Institute of Strategic and Regional Studies. Fiftythree experts from about 20 countries and international organisations were present at the conference. The former Foreign Secretary, J.N. Dixit, and former special envoy to Afghanistan, S.K. Lambah, were among those who took part in the deliberation on India's relations with the Central Asian countries and challenges faced by the region after the break up of the Soviet empire. In their speech, the experts noted the conference was a well worked out diplomatic move for providing a background for Mr. Sinha's Uzbekistan visit in the backdrop of India's policy on its ``immediate strategic neighbourhood.'' — PTI
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