Kazakhstan, India have great cooperation prospects

/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Karimova

Kazakhstan and India have great prospects for trade and economic cooperation, said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev at a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Astana on July 8.

"Our countries have a similar international agenda, great prospects in trade and economic field, centuries-old friendship ties, and cultural and historical relations," he noted.

Nazarbayev believes all of these factors make Kazakhstan and India congenial countries.

"During the talks held in a one-on-one format, we thoroughly discussed all aspects of relations in the economy and in politics, regional and international situation," the president added.

The two countries also agreed that Kazakhstan will supply 5,000 tons of uranium to India from 2015 to 2019.

"The launch of exploratory drilling on the Satpayev block and the signing of an agreement for the delivery of 5,000 tons of uranium to India in 2015-2019 is evidence of systematic development of bilateral relations in the energy sector," Nazarbayev said.

Modi, in turn, said India can learn a lot from Kazakhstan.

"Today Kazakhstan is developing as a very successful economy. India, despite the fact that it is a big country, can learn a lot from you," the Indian prime minister noted.

Following the bilateral talks, the two countries signed an intergovernmental agreement on defense and military-technical cooperation and a memorandum of understanding in the field of railway transport between the authorized agencies.

The signing ceremony was followed by a joint press conference, where Modi said that India considers Kazakhstan to be its “largest economic partner” in Central Asia and assigns it a key role in the development of India's relations with the region.

The Indian official believes that, while the two sides are already cooperating in the nuclear sector and the extraction of natural resources, there are significant prospects for further economic cooperation between the two countries.

"We hope that we can expand our cooperation, for example in the extraction of minerals. As for hydrocarbons, it is another significant sector for us," Modi noted. "We also consider investing in the manufacturing sector and in infrastructure as our priority."

"We highly value our relations with Kazakhstan, because we were able to establish a great synergy of markets, resources, and skills to build strong bilateral relations. We were able to find out a significant convergence of our economic, political courses, approaches and strategies in various fields," Modi concluded.

India recognized Kazakhstan's independence in 1992. In recent years, India has sought to increase its commerce and strategic ties with Kazakhstan, which is the largest nation of Central Asia and occupies a major expanse of territory that contains extensive oil deposits, and natural gas and mineral reserves.

To bolster economic ties, both nations have established the Indo-Kazakh Joint Business Council.

Information technology, pharmaceuticals, space research, banking, the creation of transport corridors, military officer training, the development of joint military-industrial projects, and establishing a partnership between the defense industries, as well as renewable energy and oil exploration are prospective fields for cooperation between India and Kazakhstan.

India intends to invest $400 million in oil and gas exploration in Kazakhstan.

The ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), a daughter company of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has a 25-percent share in the development of the Satpayev block, where India has already invested $150 million.