India has extended its ?Look West? to ?Look East? policy, but so far the focus on Central Asia remains a critical missing link. The dastardly attack on India?s embassy in Kabul may yet make India rethink its Central Asia strategy?it should, however, strengthen, not weaken our resolve. A vibrant and proactive relationship with the Central Asian region will further India?s three important policy goals of economic expansion, energy security, and tackling cross-border terrorism. The Caspian Sea region of Central Asia, and beyond that in Asiatic Russia, has some of highest concentrations of hydrocarbon resources in the world and is likely to be the epicenter of substantive future discoveries of oil & gas. Given India?s massive energy needs and urgency to find secure and certain supply lines of oil & gas, the Central Asian region is a key area for India?s strategic engagement. Discoveries of oil and concomitant economic development are making this region economically important. India?s manufacturing and skilled services industries will have a tremendous market opportunity in this region. A stable, secure Central Asia (including Afghanistan), where India is an important stakeholder economically, will prove to be invaluable in India?s fight against global terror-networks that target India. New Delhi needs a cohesive, long-term approach to engage Central Asia in its strategic partnership.
For these reasons, India?s participation in Afghanistan?s development is crucial, especially the Border Road Organisation?s (BRO) 213-kilometre Zaranj-Dilaram road development project that is a part of its $750 million aid package to Afghanistan. This road is a part of a highway that will connect Iran?s port of Chabahar to Central Asia and beyond to Asiatic Russia, and onto St. Petersburg in the heart of European Russia itself. India is also helping Iran develop the highway from Chabahar up to the Afghanistan border. However, India needs to do much more and do it soon. We need to be closely watching China?s inroads into this region. China?s investment in the Gwadar port in Pakistan is to ensure its access to the Indian Ocean and the hydrocarbon resources in the Persian Gulf. Given its geography, China already enjoys access to all of Central Asia and Asiatic Russia. India?s public and private sectors today are not short of funds. India should actively seek investment opportunities in infrastructure in Iran and Central Asia with the specific aim of developing a multi-modal transport corridor and a network of pipelines to the Indian Ocean. India should seriously consider investment in the development of transport linkages between the Central Asian states and Iran and Afghanistan. During the Cold War, the transport network in Central Asia was Russia-centric heading north. Thus, the linkages connecting former Soviet Central Asian states to its southern neighbours remain underdeveloped. Much can be done to upgrade the trucking and rail infrastructure which is slow and inefficient. India should also leverage its IT prowess to help build connectivity in the region.
Sceptics would argue that investment in this region is unstable and risky. They would also argue that Afghanistan is very unsafe especially after the attack on the embassy of India. Moreover, India does not enjoy cordial relationship with all states in this region. While all of this is true, India cannot wait for the perfect time to start its strategic engagement in this region. A public-private initiative that includes major Indian energy, transport, logistics and infrastructure companies including PSUs like BRO, RITES and EIL should be put in place. A working group comprising diplomats and entrepreneurs who have served in the region and some prominent economists should come up with a cohesive strategy for long-term development of an economic corridor linking India to Central Asia and beyond. This deserves urgent attention since India?s emergence as an economic power is partially predicated upon a greater stake in the peace and prosperity of the Central Asian hinterland.
?The author is principal adviser, CII. These are his personal views