(Zaheeruddin Ali Khan) Vice President Hamid Ansari today left on a four-day visit to Uzbekistan during which the two nations will discuss issues of cooperation in counter-terrorism, Afghanistan and development projects in the region will come up for discussion.
Ansari is travelling with a high-level delegation to Tashkent where he will meet Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov.
Ansari while flying from Delhi to Tashkent said that “we are visiting a country in the neighborhood and also a country which is critically important in its own region. If you have a look at the map you will see that Uzbekistan has borders with all its neighbors and one of them is off course Afghanistan which is not part of the old Soviet Union but all others were part of the Soviet Union. It is also the most populous country in its own region, it is about 30 million. It is a reasonable affluent country in terms of resources not necessarily in terms of per capita GDP but its importance lies in the approach it has to regional security problems on one side and to its foreign policy perceptions on the other side.”
We have been engaging with them since they became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The President of Uzbekistan, who has been the President since that time in 1992, has visited India 5 times. From our side our President has visited, two prime Ministers have visited and innumerable visits by Ministers and officials. We have an excellent relationship but excellent relationships also mean that they need to be renewed frequently. We don’t take relationships for granted.
The purpose of this visit is one to continue exchange of visits at high level. Last year their President was in India and he signed a number of agreements but the most important thing was that we have established a Strategic Partnership with them. We have common strategic interests. They relate principally to what is happening or might happen in Afghanistan. Uzbekistan has a border with Afghanistan. Therefore it will willingly (or) unwillingly end up playing a critical role in what may happen there tomorrow or day after. In terms of foreign policy Uzbekistan likes to keep away from pacts and alignments. It is something like a neutral policy – neutrality approach, it is not quite neutrality but it is something along those lines. So they don’t want to get involved in any of the pacts except to the extent that there is economic cooperation.
This is the purpose of the visit. Most of the substantive part will be done tomorrow. After that we are visiting two famous historic cities – Samarkand and Bukhara. This is an area with which we had, for centuries, intense exchanges both cultural and trading exchanges. I hope everybody will enjoy the visit, both the second part of it and the first part.
Thank you. If I can answer any questions I will be happy to do so.
Question: Your Excellency is there any specific or special agenda for the visit; and any agreement /MoU being signed.
Vice President: The specific agenda is to exchange views with the leadership of Uzbekistan; benefit from their perceptions about what is happening in their own region and also to try to understand how the common struggle against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is proceeding.
Question: Sir, when we talk about common counter terrorism strategy, what is the commonality between India and Uzbekistan?
Vice President: Well the commonality is the perception that terrorism in any form or manifestation is unacceptable. It is destructive of civilized life. Now each country has its own specific strategy because each country faces some aspect of that problem. But exchange of information and exchange of views is always useful. We have a joint working group on countering terrorism and that is a work which is in progress.
Question: Sir, you would be meeting your counterpart the Chairman of the senate. You would be discussing parliamentary procedure of both the countries? Sir, what about the frequent adjournments of the parliament in the last few sessions? Would you like to say anything on the frequent adjournments as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha?
Vice President: I thought I said what I had to say in the valedictory address. I don’t think there is any need for adding anything to it.
Question: Sir, Uzbekistan is quite rich in Uzbekistan. Is there any aspect of energy security we are exploring in our relationship with Uzbekistan?
Vice President: Well, I believe, like we are doing elsewhere in the world wherever there are Uranium resources, we working to explore the possibilities of Uranium supplies coming from Uzbekistan also. This is a work in progress and I think the technical discussions and other things are taking place. And we don’t see any impediments in this.
Question: Sir, would you like to share any details of the joint working group on terrorism.
Vice President: Well in the nature of things even I don’t know the details of the joint working group on terrorism nor should it be made known to everybody. The objectives are clear but how do we proceed to achieve these objectives, this is something that should remain confined to specialists.
Question: Sir, we share a historical relationship with Uzbekistan. Any future event through your visit you would you like to establish and revive the silk route and silk route tradition with Uzbekistan.
Vice President: We have a trading relationship of great vintage which goes back to thousands of years. We have a cultural relationship which is again very deep rooted. And even today the interest that the people of Uzbekistan take in ties with us, in exchange of teachers and languages and all that, you will find great many people who know Urdu and Hindi and who are studying Urdu and Hindi in Tashkent. Indian films are very popular. So this is something which they respond very easily.
Question: Sir, you met with the Chinese Premier before he left. Anything you would like to share with us – anything that you discussed, the body language, the way the premier behaved with you, anything.
Vice President: Well, I though one of the papers revealed the grate secret of what we discussed. It was on a philosophical level. Basically the point which I took with him was that the world is changing very fast; in 21st century world India and China will be playing a very important role. And therefore while we are working on linkages in the areas of trade, technology and other things, we also need to devote more time to thinking about the future. In other words nobody can say what the shape of the world will be 50 years from now. We have to think about it, not only in terms of technology but also in wider terms, what would be the relationship between people in societies, between societies. That is something on which the Chinese, I am sure, are doing their own work and we are doing our won work. My suggestion that we need to interact and he reacted positively. He agreed that we need much more contact at the level of University and think tanks
Question: Possible role of India in Afghanistan in the backdrop of the possibility of US pullout from Afghanistan. In your visit to Uzbekistan…..what role do you foresee for India for the regions stability in Afghanistan?
Vice President: Well I can’t anticipate what President Karzai is discussing in Delhi today. But India’s role in Afghanistan and Indian interests in Afghanistan have remained unchanged for decades at least. We have people to people relationship. Governments have gone, come, governments have gone. Our efforts have been always to help Afghanistan in the best possible manner for the benefit of the people of Afghanistan. And if you look at the work that we have done in Afghanistan for the last 50-60 years, since we became independent, we have done projects there which they wanted and which are people centric. We have built hospitals; we have built roads, industrial estates, power transmission lines, all these things. And I think this role is well understood and well appreciated in Afghanistan whether they belong to this group or that group. So this work will continue. We don’t have hegemonic interests in Afghanistan. We don’t want to use it as some kind of front yard or backyard. That is our approach. But I will leave it to Governments, the governments are talking. We will see how it goes along.
Question: Sir, any political message that you are carrying to the Uzbek side.
Vice President: Intensify our relationship and friendship.