By Catherine Putz
The Indian Prime Minister is making his first regional visit, with counterterrorism and energy at the top of the agenda.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Central Asia and Russia for the first time next week–with counterterrorism and energy topping the agenda. The eight-day trip will kick off with state visits to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Then Modi will head north to the Russian city of Ufa for the combined BRICS/SCO summit. After the two day summit, Modi will return to Central Asia, visiting Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan before heading back to New Delhi.
This will be Modi’s first visit to the region but follows an initiative first mentioned in 2012–the Connect Central Asia policy. The policy is aimed at building up political, security, economic and cultural ties between India and Central Asia. Although there have been high-level visits–Modi’s predecessor Manmohan Singh also traveled through the region and Indian President Pranab Mukherjee was in Moscow in May to celebrate Victory Day–multilateral organizations have been the policy’s linchpin. Just as the BRICS/SCO summits anchor the upcoming trip, they anchor India’s involvement and aspirations in the region.
Read the full story at The Diplomat