India agrees to invest in Uzbek energy fields

Reuters April 26 Uzbekistan, its eyes set on Asia as its relations sour with the West, agreed on Wednesday to open up its oil and gas sector to India and invited one of the world's biggest energy consumers to invest in new fields. Speaking after talks with visiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said his Central Asian state, increasingly criticised in the West over human rights, was ready for a closer energy dialogue with Delhi. "Uzbekistan's vast oil and gas reserves are attractive to India which needs resources to ensure its energy security," Karimov said, standing beside Singh in the capital Tashkent. During the visit, Uzbekistan and India signed three framework agreements specifying India's role in Uzbekistan's energy and minerals sector. Karimov said he was ready to offer India new exploration sites under a production-sharing agreement, but gave no details. Uzbekistan has sought closer ties with Asian countries to offset deteriorating ties with the West following a bloody crackdown in the Uzbek town of Andizhan in May 2005. After the Andizhan unrest, which Karimov blamed on Islamist extremists he says are plotting to overthrow his secularist government, the European Union imposed sanctions on the Uzbek government, banning arms sales. The Uzbek government says troops in Andizhan opened fire to put down an armed rebellion. Witnesses spoke of soldiers shooting hundreds of civilians, including women and children. Apart from India, Uzbekistan has also invited resource-poor South Korea to develop energy and mining projects. It has also strengthened ties with Moscow, which has defended Karimov on Andizhan, and signed deals with Russia's Gazprom to jointly tap gas fields worth $1.5 billion. "We are also very happy that we have agreed to cooperate in the fields of oil and natural gas exploration and production," India's Singh told reporters. "We see Uzbekistan as an important element in any effort to optimally utilise the energy resources of Central Asia."