The deep-rooted linkages between India and Kazakhstan which go back 2500 years have resurfaced during the Covid-19 pandemic, with both countries showing exceptional goodwill in jointly combating the disease.
Earlier this week, two fully-loaded Kazakh planes carrying emergency humanitarian assistance arrived in New Delhi– a gesture which India said spotlighted the "further deepening the strategic partnership".
The 40-tonne aid included medical masks, respirators, protective suits and portable ventilators from Kazakhstani healthcare companies.
Last year, India had been quick to send the hydroxychloroquine tablets to the Central Asian republic to combat the pandemic.
Unsurprisingly on May 4, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev had sent a warm message to the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing "deep solidarity" with the Indian people as they tackle the massive Covid wave in the country.
"During this harsh time, we stand ready to unite efforts with our Indian friends to contain the spread of pandemic and provide every possible assistance in the spirit of enduring friendship and mutual support between our states. I firmly believe that under your wise leadership the Government of India will be able to overcome the current crisis and return to its normal life," the Kazakh President said in his message.
Tokayev wished PM Modi a strong will in bringing his great nation through these hardships to become even more resilient and prosperous, while instructing his government to provide humanitarian assistance to
India in the form of over five million medical masks, thousands of respirators, anti-plague suits, and 105 portable artificial lung ventilation devices, all made in Kazakhstan.
As the planes smartly lined up in New Delhi on Friday, the ceremony of aid transfer was attended by the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to India Nurlan Zhalgasbayev and Bandar Wilsonbabu, Director of the Department of Eurasian Cooperation of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) from the Indian side.
Trade to military, the partnership gets stronger
Kazakhstan remains India’s main trading partner in Central Asia, with regular trade in goods and exchange of ideas and cultural influences dating back to thousands of years.
Be it the flow of Buddhism from India to Central Asia or the Sufi ideas from Central Asia to India, the ancient link between both the countries is evident even today with similarities in food, language, dress and culture.
In fact, India was one of the first countries to recognize the independence of Kazakhstan as diplomatic relations were established in February 1992. The Embassy of India was opened in Almaty in May 1992 and the Embassy of Kazakhstan was opened in New Delhi in 1993. After the capital of Kazakhstan was shifted from Almaty to Astana in 1997, the Embassy of India opened its Representative Office in Astana in 2003 and finally moved the embassy in 2007.
In November, the India-Kazakhstan joint peacekeeping room was opened at the Peacekeeping Training Center of the Kazakh Ministry of Defense in Almaty to set yet another milestone in bilateral defence relations between the two countries.
Last month, General Nurlan Yermekbayev, the Defence Minister of Kazakhstan visited India along with his delegation with a focus on boosting bilateral defence cooperation. Both countries share common interests of actively combating the threat of global terrorism and maintaining peace.
Yermekbayev landed in Jodhpur, visited HQs 12 Corps, travelled to the Longewala sector in Jaisalmer before meeting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi. Both ministers agreed that they must look at the possibility of defence industrial collaboration of mutual interest, including further exchange through the annual KAZIND Exercise.
The Kazakhstan minister also thanked India for the opportunity given to the Kazakh troops for deployment as part of the Indian battalion in United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
