India and Uzbekistan sign seven accords

Khaleej Times April 27 India Wednesday raised its stakes in Central Asia by signing seven accords with Uzbekistan in the fields of energy, education, business and mineral prospecting and stepping up the joint fight against terrorism. In a significant boost for India's energy diplomacy, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said he was willing to offer India oil exploration blocks on a joint management basis in the ratio of 50:50. "Both our countries face the common threats of terrorism, fundamentalism and religious extremism and President Karimov and I have resolved to continue to work together to combat these dangers," Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh told reporters here. He was speaking at a joint Press interaction with Karimov. Dr Singh and Karimov have held talks on a wide array of bilateral and global issues, including terrorism, trade, energy security, the situation in Afghanistan and regional stability. Karimov underlined the need for combating drug trafficking in Afghanistan, which he said was the fountainhead of terrorist financing in the entire region. He reiterated his country's firm support for "India's presence in an expanded UN Security Council". The 67-year-old Uzbek strongman also took not-so-subtle potshots at the US' presence in the region, which is being now opposed by Karimov after souring of relations with Washington. "Despite the presence of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, the production of opium, instead of decreasing, has gone up," he said.