Ambassador Speeches

Round Table meeting for Bilateral Trade & Investment Opportunities between India and Kyrgyz Republic

(Park Hotel, Bishkek; 7th March, 2024; 1000-1200 Hrs)  

Opening Remarks by Mr. Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Ambassador of India to the Kyrgyz Republic

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning! 

        It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you to this Round Table today where we shall be discussing the prospects of further enhancing bilateral trade and investment between India and the Kyrgyz Republic. I thank Business Association JIA for collaborating with our Embassy in organizing this event.   

It is significant that India and the Kyrgyz Republic have a strategic partnership today. Regular exchanges of visits, including at the political level, have contributed to the development of cooperation in various areas. The excellent political relationship has laid the foundation for the strong economic and commercial relations. 

The 1^st India-Central Asia Summit held on 27 January, 2022 laid emphasis on economic partnership and identified sectors like medicine, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, education, information technology, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), infrastructure, agriculture and processing of agricultural products, energy, space industry, textiles, leather and footwear industry, gems & jewellery which hold immense potential for the expansion of trade and investment between our countries. I would suggest that this Round Table could delve deeper to understand the prospects of strengthening cooperation in some of these sectors. 

It is a matter of satisfaction that bilateral trade between India and the Kyrgyz Republic reached nearly US$ 96 million during 2023 as per statistics of the Kyrgyz Republic. The main exports from India included pharmaceutical products, electric machinery and equipment, clothing and food products. Exports from the Kyrgyz Republic to India included mineral fuel, oil and their distillation products, vegetables, and prepared products from meat and fish. Discussions today will focus in identifying new items that could be added into the existing trade basket to utilize the huge untapped potential. 

India has signed an MoU with the Kyrgyz Republic for implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs) for socio-economic development in the Kyrgyz Republic. These would be developed with grant assistance from India. A Protocol amending this MOU was signed recently in January this year and we hope to commence work in this direction very soon. India has also made an offer of a Line of Credit of US$ 200 million to the Kyrgyz Republic. Discussions are going on with regard to the finalization of the modalities of the agreement to be signed for this purpose. The grants for HICDP and the Line of Credit are expected to open up greater opportunities for investment, trade and economic cooperation between our two countries. 

Besides trade in goods, cooperation in the service sector also holds considerable promise for the future. Major hospital chains in India can examine the possibilities of opening branches of their multi-speciality hospitals and diagnostic clinics in the Kyrgyz Republic. The Indian film industry can explore and use the beautiful and picturesque locations here for shooting feature films. Indian educational institutions can set-up their campuses in the country. I may add tourism and hospitality as two other sectors with potential. Besides identifying steps towards increasing two-way trade, I would request Chief Specialist of the National Investment Agency to guide this Forum on the investment opportunities available in the country in various sectors. 

Connectivity is a major challenge for the expansion of bilateral trade between India and the Kyrgyz Republic. Commencement of direct flights between Bishkek and Delhi has made movement of people between the two countries easier though the frequency of flights needs to be increased. Steps to further increase carriage of goods by air have to be identified. The utilization of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and promoting the Chabahar Port in Iran are some of the other ongoing efforts to improve connectivity. 

The India-Kyrgyz Business forum and the India-Central Asia Business Council (ICABC) are working to promote business linkages and expanding trade and economic cooperation between India and the Kyrgyz Republic. It is encouraging that the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India is planning to convene the 3^rd meeting of the India-Central Asia Business Council (ICABC) in the coming months. It would be useful for the India-Kyrgyz Business Forum to meet at the earliest. 

JIA is well-known in the Kyrgyz industry today. They are now partnering the Federation of Indian Export Organization (FIEO) for enhancing trade and investment between our two countries. Participating in the trade fairs in India and the Kyrgyz Republic by the companies of the two countries is essential to understand the market and the opportunities they offer. 

Before concluding, I would like to thank Acting Head of the Export Promotion Department of Ministry of Economy and Commerce Mr. Tilek Zhumaliev, Chief Specialist of the National Investment Agency of the Kyrgyz Republic Mr. Ravil Galinurov and Chairman of the Board of Business Association JIA Mr. Zhoodar Omoshov for finding time out of their busy schedule for this Round Table today. I am extremely grateful to Joint Secretary in charge of the Kyrgyz Republic in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India Mr. Manish Chaddha for sharing his valuable thoughts through his video message.  I thank the speakers and the participants for joining us today. 

Our Embassy would be happy to work with JIA to organize more such events in future to enable interaction between our business communities and identify new business opportunities. I wish you success in your deliberations today. 

                       Thank you. 

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