Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 10 (IANS) India will firm up a roadmap for scaling up business ties, including a lucrative oil deal, when External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna goes on a three-day visit to the energy-rich Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan Tuesday.
Krishna will leave for the Kazakh capital Astana Tuesday afternoon.

He will be accompanied by a large business delegation and officials of the ministry of external affairs and petroleum ministry, Vishnu Prakash, spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, told reporters here.

Describing Kazakhstan as one of India’s “most important neighbours”, Prakash said the visit would focus on firming up “a blueprint for scaling up collaboration in diverse sectors”.

Krishna and his Kazakh counterpart Kanat Saudabayev will hold delegation-level discussions Wednesday on a wide range of a range of issues, including expanded economic, energy and security ties between the two countries.

The discussions will focus on finalising a roadmap and setting concrete benchmarks for implementing decisions taken during Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s visit to India in January 2009, the spokesperson said.

In a signal honour underlining India’s special ties with Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev was invited by India last year as chief guest at the Republic Day function.

The visit will be dominated by taking business and energy ties to a new level. The two sides will hold discussions on finalising an agreement on the Satpayev oil block.

“We are hopeful of positive progress on an agreement on he production and exploration at Satpayev oil block,” Ajay Bisaria, joint secretary (Eurasia division), told reporters here.

It’s one of the most important issues to be discussed, he said, adding that experts and officials from the petroleum ministry and ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), the overseas arm of India’s oil major, will take part in the discussions.

A Russia-like intergovernmental umbrella agreement on wide-ranging cooperation in civil nuclear energy will also be discussed, Bisaria said.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Kazakhstan’s state owned KazAtomProm for the supply of uranium was signed during Nazarbayev’s visit to India last year.

An admirer of India’s development model, the Kazakh president is keen that Indian companies have a greater presence in Kazakhstan. He has invited Indian companies to participate in 170 major projects in a variety of sectors to speed up industrialization of his country.

The business delegation accompanying Krishna on this visit to Astana comprises some of the big names in Indian industry like Tata Motors, Sun Microsystems group, BHEL, Lloyd Punj, and the Apollo group who are keen to invest in Central Asia’s largest country.