Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), June 12 (IANS) India Tuesday unveiled its Connect Central Asia policy that is aimed at greater political, economic and people-to-people engagement with the energy-rich Central Asian countries, both bilaterally and collectively.
Unveiling the policy at the first India-Central Asia Dialogue here, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamad noted that as part of the effort, both sides are working to establish a Central Asian e-network with its hub in India.
The network aims at delivering tele-education and tele-medicine connectivity, linking all the five Central Asian states - - with India and aims to replicate the success of the Pan Africa e-network that has been a success with 47 African countries signing onto it.
The Central Asian e-network will be a pioneering attempt by India to leverage its prowess in the IT to bridge the digital divide in developing countries and to bolster their capacity in critical areas of health and education by linking India's top hospitals and educational institutions with hubs in the region.
Ahamed also expressed India's interest in assisting to set up a Central Asia University at Bishek to impart education in areas like IT, management, philosophy and languages.
Recalling the civilizational bonds between India and Central Asia, Ahamed also highlighted the growing friendly relations among the peoples of the two areas.
The two-day dialogue has brought together participants from across the Central Asian countries and India. The Dialogue would be followed by a Discover Asia business interaction hosted by former Kyrgyz president Roza Otunbayeva on Wednesday with more than 100 business people and captains of industry participating.
Aprt from Kyrgyzstan, the other Central Asian countries are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.
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