Hindustan Times: Energy Tops Priority List as PM Modi Begins Central Asia Tour

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has India’s energy hunger on his mind as he begins his first-ever visit to the five ‘stans’ of Central Asia on Monday. On top of the Prime Minister’s priority list is a pitch for India joining the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Oman-Iran transit treaty for New Delhi to get a share of Turkmenistan’s vast natural gas reserves.

Modi’s visit marks the first time an Indian Prime Minister is visiting all five Central Asian countries since the breakup of the Soviet Union. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet leadership of Iran, Central Asian States and Russia to ensure that Indian goods and vice versa find their way into these landlocked republics,” said a senior official.

India seeks to plug into Turkmenistan’s natural gas that will flow to Iran and Oman through Uzbekistan as a result of the transit treaty that aims at facilitating a multi-faceted transportation corridor. India had in May inked a deal with Iran to be part of development of the strategic Chabahar port. Chabahar also gives India access to Afghanistan from the west, and is less distant from Gujarat than Delhi is from Mumbai. MORE