India on Thursday pitched for greater use of Iran's Chabahar port to cut distances and costs, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar calling for devoting more resources by India and Central Asian nations to boost regional connectivity.
In an address at a business conclave joined by foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, Jaishankar also underlined the need for closer engagements between financial institutions of India and Central Asian states.
New Delhi is interested in partnering with Central Asia in building digital platforms for payments and services, he said at the India-Central Asia Business Council.
The external affairs minister strongly pushed for enhancing connectivity between the two sides and said there is a need for greater allocation of resources to the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
The INSTC is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode transport project for moving freight among India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe. India has been supporting the project.
"We need to diversify our trade baskets so that all of us have more options and we have more competition, and in a way, we are looking for new opportunities," Jaishankar said.
Talking about the Indian economy, he said its size is in the "excess of USD 4 trillion dollars" and it is growing at 6-8 per cent annually.
"It will create new demands for products, for services, and even, I would say, in a way new demands out of more prosperous lifestyles," he said.
Jaishankar said India's economic growth has thrown up new opportunities.
"We need to introduce greater sustainability and more predictability in our economic interactions, and that means more long-term contracts and arrangements, cross investments, joint ventures," he said.
In terms of sectors for boosting ties, Jaishankar named energy, mining and fertilisers.
Highlighting the importance of connectivity, the external affairs minister emphasised greater use of the Chabahar port, saying it will cut travel distances and costs.
Located in the Sistan-Balochistan province on energy-rich Iran's southern coast, the Chabahar port is being developed by India and Iran to boost connectivity and trade ties.
Jaishankar said India and the Central Asian states, which are all members of the UNTIR (Transports Internationaux Routiers) Carnet system, should streamline transit procedures to ease the flow of goods across borders.
In his remarks, Kazakh Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu described India as a key strategic partner and noted that Indian investments in his country had increased by 41 per cent to touch almost USD 500 million.
Kyrgyz foreign minister Zheenbek Kulubaev emphasised the need for more economically feasible transport corridors.
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