India-Central Asia Dialogue

Why in news?

• The 2nd meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue was  held in the digital video-conference format on 28 October 2020.

About the Dialogue:

• It is a conference between Foreign Ministers of India, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan Uzbekistan and Kyrgyz Republic.
• Afghanistan has also attended the conference as a special invitee.
• A wide gamut of areas including political, security, economic and commercial, humanitarian and cultural spheres as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest are discussed at the conference.
• The Ministers will specifically deliberate on promoting connectivity and development partnerships in the region.
• The inaugural meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue was jointly organized by India and Uzbekistan on 13 January 2019 in Samarkand (Uzbekistan)
• India has announced an additional USD 1 billion Line of Credit for Central Asian countries.

PRELIMS QUESTION

Consider the following statements regarding Central Asia:
1.All Central Asian countries except Uzbekistan border the Caspian Sea.
2.Kazakhstan is the largest central Asian ‘country.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2
 

Answer to prelims question