India's ties with Kazakhstan are of mutual benefit

Astana [Kazhakstan], April 3 : Kazakhstan is India's major commercial partner in Central Asia and the ninth-largest nation in the world. Throughout the past several years, there have been notable improvements in the two countries' bilateral relations. The two nations reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the ever-expanding cooperation as they celebrated 30 years of this partnership last year, The Astana Times reported.

The strategic cooperation agreement between India and Kazakhstan was crucial in advancing diplomatic ties in the interest of regional development. The agreement, which was signed in 2009 while Kazakhstan's first president Nursultan Nazarbayev was in India as the special guest for Republic Day, demonstrated the value that both nations placed on the expansion of their expanding economies and cooperation. It emphasised the importance of economic ties and mutual development between India and Kazakhstan.

This cooperation covers a wide range of areas in the economic, cultural, and political spheres, supported by a foundation of historical ties. India was among the first countries to recognize Kazakhstan's independence in 1991 and established diplomatic relations the following year. India can tap into Kazakhstan's rich energy resources. The Central Asian country is the biggest producer of urum and trades almost 90 per cent of India's urum requirements. Kazakhstan's state-owned enterprises signed multiple agreements with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and the Department of Atomic Energy to supply urum to India over the years, as per The Astana Times.

During the 13th meeting of the Indo-Kazahstan intergovernmental commission, New Delhi also expressed interest in delivering nuclear fuel and components.

One of the main drivers of India-Kazakhstan relations has been their shared interest in regional stability and economic development. The steadily growing trade turnover between the two countries reached $2.5 billion in recent years. To increase this figure and promote investment cooperation and economic initiatives, a Joint Business Council was recently established between the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Chamber of International Commerce of Kazakhstan.

It followed mutual agreements in diversifying cooperation in space, energy, agriculture, medicine, IT, cybersecurity, military-to-military-technical collaboration, and combating terrorism through mutual assistance, reported The Astana Times.

New Delhi has more opportunity to explore its global ambitions and strengthen its bilateral connections with Central Asia thanks to India's SCO presidency, which it will hold until September of this year.

India has also offered technical support for capacity building and election monitoring. Also, there have been frequent exchanges of arts and culture between the two nations.

In the end, both nations' shared interests must be effectively exploited to advance bilaterally and through groups like the SCO regional integration and cooperation, The Astana Times reported.

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