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 It
is worth noting here that in size, Kyrgyzstan
is slightly bigger than the state of Gujarat.
However, the population is about 5.5 million or
about one sixth of Gujarat. This landlocked Central
Asian Republic is surrounded by Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,
Kazakstan and China. Kyrgyzstan is occasionally
referred to as “the Switzerland of Central Asia”
as the mountainous region of the Tian Shan covers
over 80 percent of the country. The remainder
is made up of valleys and basins.
During his talks wth his Kyrgyz counterpart Gen
Kudayberdiev, Antony offered Indian assistance
to Kyrgyzstan in a wide range of areas to strengthen
its defence and security capabilities. As a first
step, India will be sending a team to train Kyrgyz
Armed Forces in UN Peace Keeping Operations and
impart English language skills. The team will
be arriving in Kyrgyzistan by the end of this
month itself.
Antony said though the present level of defence
engagements are rather limited, there is potential
to mutually enhance the scope and scale of activities
in a gradual manner in areas of mutual interest
particularly in the field of military training,
defence research and development and production
of defence armaments.
The Defence Minister was leading a high level
defence delegation which included the DRDO Chief
Dr V K Saraswat, Special Secretary R K Mathur,
Secretary Defence Finance Ms Vijay Lakshmi Gupta
and Chief Controller of Research and Development
for Life Sciences, Dr William Selvamurthy. Indian
Ambassador in Bishkek, P Stobdan joined the deliberations.
Antony said India has a wide network of research
establishments not only in armaments but also
in physiology, medicine, animal husbandry, nutrition
etc under defence establishments. He offered New
Delhi’s assistance to Bishkek for undertaking
joint research and production in non-military
sectors also.
 ‘We
can explore areas for cooperation in research
and development in high- altitude base agriculture,
plantation, animal husbandry, poultry, food processing
that would also help generate rural employment
and remove poverty’, he said.
Appreciating the support of the Kyrgyz authorities
in international efforts against terrorism and
drug trafficking in Kyrgyzstan, Antony said the
joint working groups on counter-terrorism should
meet regularly to share information on the issue.
Kyrgyz Defence Minister Major General Abibilla
Kudayberdiev thanked Antony for his offer of cooperation
in both military and nonmilitary areas. He accepted
Antony’s invitation to visit India shortly to
take the cooperation forward. He expressed happiness
that the two sides have worked out a cooperation
plan for the year 2011.
Antony also had a luncheon meeting with President
Roza Otunbaeva as well as with the Health Minister
Dr Sabyrbek Jumabekov.
The author is Additional
Director General (Media and Communication). He
accompanied the Defence Minister as a member of
the delegation
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