00:00India's trade and economic ties with Central Asia over the last decade have actually shown
00:06a very strong positive trend.
00:10Mutual trade was less than $500 million a decade ago in 2014.
00:17And I must tell you, Mr. Panda, our numbers are a little higher than yours.
00:22So what we have collectively is actually a trade volume which is almost touching $2 billion.
00:29However, this figure does not reflect the full potential.
00:36The need to address this is today even more urgent because of the uncertainties of the
00:42global, of the international economy.
00:45And this requires governments and business to work together in tandem, which is why all
00:52of us are here in this room.
00:56Now, with that broad context, let me highlight three objectives before us.
01:05One is to deepen the existing cooperation, both in terms of volume and in terms of quality.
01:12There is already, I think, a recognition in each other's countries, in each other's economies,
01:19of the players and of the products.
01:22But we must build further on that foundation.
01:26And a very good example here is actually of the pharmaceutical sector.
01:31Two, we need to diversify our trade baskets so that all of us have more options, we have
01:42more competition and, in a way, we are looking for new opportunities.
01:48And I would like our friends from Central Asian economies to appreciate that an economy today,
01:56which is bigger, which is in excess of $4 trillion, which is growing at, you know, 6 to 8 percent
02:03annually.
02:04It will create new demands for products, for services, and, you know, even, I would say,
02:11in a way, new demands out of more prosperous lifestyles.
02:16So there are many things we could be doing, we should be doing, which perhaps we have not
02:21looked at in the past.
02:25So this looking beyond the currently traded goods and services is essential, really, to
02:32envisage and realise new opportunities.
02:36And the third is that we need to introduce greater sustainability and more predictability
02:43in our economic interactions.
02:45And that means more long-term contracts and arrangements, cross-investments, joint ventures,
02:53and certainly sectors like energy, whether we are talking uranium, whether we are talking
03:00crude oil, even potentially gas, whether we are looking at mining, if you are talking
03:07about coal or if you are discussing fertilisers, I think these are all relevant examples to reach
03:14really long-term understandings between us.
03:18So how do we do this?
03:20And I have three, five solutions here, really, to suggest.
03:26One, we look at the digital economy and innovation.
03:29I think Mr. Panda also dwelt on it.
03:33We are meeting at a time when e-commerce platforms, blockchains, cross-border digital payments are
03:40transforming the way the world interacts, trades, and affects payments.
03:46And India would be very happy to partner on, about platforms like the UPI, like Aadhaar,
03:53like DigiLocker with our Central Asian partners.
03:57And certainly greater use of digital technologies and AI applications will help us unlock the full
04:05potential of our trade and economic ties.
04:07And I would also add that it will be a great help to our tourists, to our students, to our
04:14medical travelers.
04:15And I think, colleagues, this is something that we have discussed this afternoon.
04:20The second solution lies in the field of financial services.
04:26And here, I would say, closer engagements between our banks and financial sector will definitely
04:32strengthen our economic interaction.
04:35Some beginnings have been made in terms of opening of special rupee vastro accounts in
04:40Indian banks, by Central Asian banks.
04:43And there's also been some discussion about use of UPI, Unified Payment Interface.
04:50I would certainly support that very strongly, as also the steps we could take to facilitate
04:58mutual settlement of trade in our national currencies.
05:03The third, which I referred to earlier, is healthcare and pharma.
05:07Today, India supplies about 60 percent of generic medicines globally.
05:14And pharmaceuticals certainly is one of our most important exports to Central Asia.
05:19But what we need to do is really to strengthen cooperation, especially between our drug regulators.
05:26And we could also look at covering medical services, including hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic
05:32centers, as also the supply of medical equipment and medical devices.
05:38The fourth issue, of course, is something we have debated for some years now.
05:43How do we improve our connectivity?
05:45Because that has been a big obstacle.
05:48And I hear talk about both land and air connectivity.
05:52So what this means is more resources and effort in the INSTC, the International North-South Transport
05:59Corridor, greater use of Chabahar port will surely reduce travel distance and costs.
06:07We are discussing this in a joint working group on Chabahar under the India-Central Asia platform.
06:13But I would really urge FIKI to look, to discuss with its members and discuss with the other
06:19chambers, the Central Asian chambers, whether, you know, how do we better address logistical
06:25challenges and present, if possible, recommendations to us in the next few months.
06:31And I should also add that we need to expand our air services and we need to create a competitive
06:38environment for goods transportation.
06:41And fifth, we need to streamline transit procedures.
06:45India and all the Central Asian countries, we are all members of the UNTIR, Carnet system.
06:52FIKI is the prime nodal agency in India for this system.
06:57And every Central Asian country has its own nodal agency.
07:01So the question before is, can we simplify customs procedure using the TIR Carnet to ease
07:08the flow of goods across borders?
07:10And again, can, you know, all the chambers get together and give us a consolidated roadmap
07:16or a recommendation in this regard.
07:20So, friends, in addition to all of these, I think you would agree that tourism, education,
07:27films, cultural exchanges, these are all important.
07:30They should be tapped for their economic and business potential.
07:33I would certainly urge all the chambers and their representatives to do more frequent exchanges,
07:40particularly sectors, specific business delegations.
07:45And we would welcome more inputs from the chambers.
07:49We would welcome more recommendations, how do we grow business.
07:53And I certainly hope that we would get it in time, because at some, you know, sometime
08:00in the not-so-distant future, we would like to see a leader summit between India and the
08:06Central Asian five.
08:08Now, tomorrow, we will be holding the fourth edition of the India-Central Asia dialogue
08:15at our level, at the foreign minister's level.
08:18And we will be deliberating on ways to further deepen our cooperation, especially the economic
08:24dimensions of our relationship.
08:26I would hope that from today's meeting, from the deliberations of the Business Council,
08:33very specific recommendations are made available to us.
08:37I wish the Business Council all success.
08:40And once again, I would like very much to appreciate the fact that my counterpart colleagues
08:48from Central Asia have all taken the time from busy schedules.
08:52They've come here in time to participate at this Council meeting.
08:57I think that itself sends a very serious and a very positive message to all of you.
09:03So, thank you very much for your attention.
Comments