Indo-Kazakh Contacts and Complementarity

Indo-Kazakh contacts go back to the days of the Great Silk Route which passed from China to the Western world through the Central Asian region (then called Turkestan) touching Southern Kazakhstan, especially Shymkent and Zambul regions. During the period between 12th and 3rd century B.C., there were nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of the Sakas living in Southern Kazakhstan who later on invaded India. Through the Silk Route, Chinese silk was traded, while Indian goods moved to the Far East. The Silk Route was the highway for Buddhism from India to Kazakhstan. Buddhist relics have been discovered in the Sairam region of South Kazakhstan. Indo-Kazakh ties date back to those days and have continued since then, resulting in mutual penetration and enrichment of the two civilizations and cultures.

India, the inheritor of one of the oldest civilizations in the World, has gone through its own ups and down in the long march of history. When India attained Independence in 1947, India inherited an economy drained by more than a cen­tury of colonial extortion, dislocated by World Wars and suffering from frequent famines and epidemics. India inherited an administration, which had in the past served mainly the colonial interests. On independence, India chose democracy as a form of Government. India’s main achievements over this half century have been that we succeeded in turning the colonial administration into a development oriented administration working for the people, and our democratic institutions have stood the test of time. Democracy has permeated all the state and private structures. On economic front, we succeeded in creating a vast industrial and technological base. We created a self-reliant economic development process. We have achieved growth with stability. Country, which was awfully short of food on the eve of Independence, is in a position today not only to feed its entire people but also to export. Our production of food grains alone has gone up from a little over 50 millions tonnes in 1950 to nearly 210 million tonnes today.

Today we are a country of billion people with one of the lowest unemploy­ment rates in the world. We have been able to produce world-class scientists and technologists and have been able to achieve significant breakthroughs in high-yield agriculture, biotechnology, atomic energy and space technology. We have had major achievements in Information technology. Last year, we exported more than USD 4 billion worth of computer software.

The Indian economy has performed well over the past two decades. Aver­age annual real GDP growth accelerated from 5.4 per cent during the 12 year period ending 1991-92 to 6.4 per cent during 1992-93 through 200—2001. During this period, it has gone through significant structural change that has been in­

duced by a continuous process of economic reforms. The pace of reform was intensified in the 1990s and the economy has responded well to the new changes that have been introduced in almost all sectors of the economy during this period. As a consequence, the economy has also shown a great degree of resilience even in the presence of adversities, such as the East-Asian financial crises of 1997-98 and the abnormal increase in oil prices more recently.

Kazakhstan’s economy, after going through a period of dislocation and crisis in the post-independence era (1991-98) has considerably stabilised. The country has vast oil and mineral reserves, which have attracted considerable amount of foreign investment. The infrastructure is being renovated at a fast pace. For the year 2000 the GDP growth rate has been 9.6 per cent. Kazakhstan has a freely convertible currency and has a comfortable foreign exchange position. The economic and financial institu­tions, which earlier did not exist or had collapsed during the crisis period, have now recovered and are now working well. The country has discovered vast oil reserves, which will probably put it at part with the countries with the largest oil reserves. The economy is looking up in all respects. Therefore, Kazakhstan could be one of the best investment destinations among the CIS countries.

There is a vast level of natural complementarity between the economies of India and Kazakhstan. India is emerging as a vast market for energy and other commodities. India has technology and experience to offer in market-based industri­alisation, market management, financial systems and information technology. These complementarities between India and Kazakhstan can mutually support each other’s growth and development.