DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (Dispatches) –Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that Central Asian countries could unlock vast economic potential by connecting with the Chabahar port in Iran.
Modi was speaking at the Plenary Session of the 21st Meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, being held in Tajikistan.
“Central Asia’s vast economic potential has remained untapped because of radicalization and extremism,” said the PM via a speech delivered via a video link.
“If the region wants to benefit from fossil fuels or intra-SCO trade, we will need to lay more emphasis on connectivity,” he added.
Modi further urged the member nations to enhance regional connectivity by respecting the territorial integrity of nations.
“Connectivity projects must be consultative, transparent, and participatory to ensure mutual trust. It must respect the territorial integrity of all nations and SCO should form norms for connectivity projects based on these principles,” he said.
The Chabahar port, which took years to build, was supposed to open up an important route to connect Afghanistan to Central Asia.
India has backed the North-South corridor, which includes highways and railways connecting Chabahar in Iran with Russia that will cut time taken by shipments between Europe and central Asian markets. Earlier this year, New Delhi proposed the India-Uzbekistan-Iran-Afghanistan Quadrilateral Working Group to discuss shared use of the Chabahar port.
These projects now face delays and may have a part to play in India missing its target to boost overall merchandise exports by $400 billion in the 2021-2022 calendar year. India’s trade with the entire Central Asia region including Russia was just $16.1 billion in 2020, just 2% of its total annual volumes.
The SCO is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. It’s the first SCO Summit being held in a hybrid format and the fourth Summit that India has participated as a full-fledged member of SCO.