Central Asia and India: Emerging Extended Neighbourhood

Relations between India and Central Asian countries are centuries old. Despite having deep historical and cultural ties, the two regions have not been very successful in establishing strong economic and trade ties. This unsatisfactory performance is attributable to a host of factors, the chief being poor logistics, transportation difficulties, and geo-political situations. Nevertheless, a good trade relationship with the Central Asian Republics is of high strategic importance for India. The countries of Central Asia have enormous amount of energy resources, which could help meet India's ever increasing energy requirements. These countries have a huge consumer market for a range of goods and services produced in India. Therefore, Central Asia holds a very significant position in India's foreign policy discourse. Obviously, India has made this region a significant part of its extended neighbourhood policy. Central Asia region consists of five culturally and ethnically diverse countries that have followed different paths to political and economic transformation since achieving independence from the erstwhile Soviet Union. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have, in relative terms, made stri