India is planning to invite the presidents of five Central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as chief guests to the Republic Day celebrations in 2022, Trend reports citing India Today.
Sources said the government has begun reaching out to these countries to discuss the invitations through diplomatic channels. On December 18-19, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will host a virtual meeting with the foreign ministers of Central Asian nations over official invitation to the presidents of these countries.
This will be the third such meeting of the foreign ministers since 2019. The first such meeting was held in January 2019 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Former External Affairs Minister late Sushma Swaraj had represented India back then. The second meeting was held virtually amid Covid-19 restrictions.
Given the situation in Afghanistan, Central Asia has become critical for India. Regional security and Afghanistan have been major topics of discussion with all of India's Central Asian partners in the last year. Jaishankar paid visits to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan earlier this year.
If the talks go well and the Covid-19 situation permits, Kazakhstan's Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan's Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Tajikistan's Emomali Rahmon, Turkmenistan's Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, and Kyrgyzstan's Sadyr Japarov will participate in India's 73rd Republic Day celebrations.
Since Narendra Modi became the prime minister in 2014, India has invited its regional partners to major events. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) leaders were invited to PM Modi's oath-taking in 2014. In 2018, 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries were invited to attend the Republic Day celebrations as chief guests.
During this year's Republic Day celebrations, India had invited the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the chief guest. He accepted the invitation but the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases in the UK forced him to cancel his India trip.
Earlier, Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro (2020), South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (2019), ASEAN leaders (2018), Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (2017), French president Francois Hollande (2016), and US President Barack Obama (2015) have been the chief guests on Republic Day since the Modi government came to power in 2014.