Forging new relations with Kazakhstan

[Dr. Jai Maharaj]

FORGING NEW RELATIONS WITH KAZAKHSTAN

By R. K. Pachauri
The Pioneer, dailypioneer.com
Friday, June 30, 2017

The opening up of relations will have substantial
benefits for India to expand its cultural, political and
economic linkages with Central Asian region. Efforts must
be made to harness the potential

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been extremely active in
travelling to various countries round the world with
which India either has already or needs to develop closer
relations. While his visit to the US, which from all
accounts has been extremely successful, will receive
heightened interest from the media and the public in this
country, there is another visit that the Prime Minister
made recently which merits detailed analysis and comment.

Prime Minister Modi travelled to Astana, the capital of
Kazakhstan, essentially to mark India's entry as a full
member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and
to participate in the opening of Expo 2017. While there
has been some comment on how India's entry would have a
major impact on the SCO itself, possibly bringing India
closer to China, what in this writer's view is even more
significant is the opportunity to develop closer
relations with Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan, among the former Soviet Republics, has been
by several measures the most successful country in the
whole group, both in terms of economic progress that it
has achieved and prominence it has attained in the
international arena. President Nursultan Nazarbayev's
leadership has been a crucial part of Kazakhstan's
progress, as he has been the President of that country
since it attained independence after the collapse of the
Soviet Union.

One of the first decisions that President Nazarbayev took
was to close many nuclear test sites that existed on its
territory during the Soviet period. The year 2016 marked
the 25th anniversary of closure of the world's largest
nuclear test site, and this symbolic move has been
reinforced by Kazakhstan and its leadership being
identified with diverse efforts to promote world peace in
every possible manner.

Some, particularly in the Western world, are critical of
President Nazarbayev's quarter century as President of
the country, but if one looks at the history of nations
that have been built or rebuilt, strong leadership and
continuity have been essential ingredients of the
emergence of nations in strong positions of economic
standing and in building institutions that withstand the
test of time.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was President of Turkey from 1923
to 1938, Bismarck was Chancellor of Germany from 1871 to
1890, and both are regarded as the early builders of
their respective countries. After the Second World War,
Konrad Adenauer, who was the Chancellor from 1949 to
1963, is credited with re-building of the Federal
Republic of Germany as an industrial power, after it
suffered the trauma of Germany's division between east
and west and destruction of its infrastructure during the
war.

Kazakhstan is the dominant power in Central Asia, and its
per capita income is already in excess of $11,000, which
is far above that of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
respectively which are just above $2,000 each.

Given India's deep interest and engagement in
Afghanistan, a closer economic and political relationship
with Kazakhstan is clearly in India's interest. The
country has a population of about 18 million and a vast
land area which ranks ninth in size in the world, just a
little less than the land area of India, which ranks
seventh in the world. India has substantial opportunities
for investments in Kazakhstan, possible assistance in
development of scientific and technological skills and
increase in overall trade with that country, which is
extremely rich in minerals and possesses substantial
potential for enhanced cooperation in the agricultural
sector.

Continues at:

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Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

http://bit.do/jaimaharaj