Inaugural India-Central Asia NSA meeting to be held in December – WION

As a key outcome of the first India-Central Asia summit that took place in January this year, the inaugural National Security Advisors meet will take place in December this year in India.

The meeting takes place even as India and Central Asia celebrate 30 years of establishment of ties and focus on increasingengagement. Central Asia consists of fivecountries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistanand Uzbekistan with whom India has cultural and civilization ties.

The India Central Asia summit had taken place earlier withthe participation of PM Modi andall leaders of the five countriesandthe key outcomes of the meet included holding summit level meet every twoyears. Leaders also agreed on regular meetings of foreign ministers, trade ministers, culture ministers andsecretaries of the Security Council or NSAs as part of close cooperation.

India will also host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) NSAmeeting in March of next year(2023). India will be taking over the chair of the group in September this year after the summit in Uzbekistan's Samarkand.

On Friday, India's deputy national security adviser Vikram Misri took part in 17th Secretaries of Security Councils meeting in the Uzbek capital Tashkent. During the meeting, the key focus of India was on Afghanistan as officials highlightedhow India has helped the Afghan people as itreiterated its call for the formation of an inclusive government, preserving the rights of women, children and minorities andcombating terrorism and drug trafficking.

While the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August last year shocked the region and the world, the focus since then has been on aid to the Afghan people by New Delhi. India has sent 40,000 MT of wheat, 30 tons of medicines, 500,000 doses of COVID-19vaccine and 500 units of winter clothing so far. In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Patika province, Indian Air force planes delivered 28 tons of emergency relief assistance.

However, worries remain over Afghan territory being used by terrorists whichwas emphasised by India's deputy NSA who highlighted the threat posed by various terror groups including those designated by UNSC such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Lashkar -e-Taiba, Jaish -e-Mohammed among others. He pointed tothe recent attack on Karte Parwan Gurudwara in Kabul whileexpressing concerns over the increase in the number of terror attacks by ISIS affiliate Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP).

This yearIndia is the Chair of the Council of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure ( RATS) of the SCO andhas strongly taken up the issue of countering terror finance. It has chaired 24 meetings of various groups of the SCO RATS structure with five meetings held in India.

India will also be holding the SCO RATS council meeting on October 14th this year in Delhi.

During his Uzbekistan visit, Deputy NSA Misri held bilateral meetings with Uzbek NSA Viktor Makhmudov, Mongolian NSA J. Enkhbayar andcalled on the Acting Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan Vladimir Norov Imanovich.

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Inaugural India-Central Asia NSA meeting to be held in December - WION