• As part of military diplomacy and to strengthen the growing strategic relations with Kazakhstan, the fifth edition of India-Kazakhstan Joint Training Exercise — KAZIND-21 — will be conducted at a training node in Aisha Bibi in Kazakhstan from August 30 to  September 11, 2021.

• Prabal Dostyk is another joint military exercise between India and Kazakhstan.

Highlights of KAZIND-21:

• The 13-day military exercise between the Indian and Kazakh armies will boost the bilateral relations between both countries.

• A total of 90 personnel from the Bihar Regiment of the Indian Army will participate in the joint exercise.

• KAZIND-21 will provide an opportunity to the Armed Forces of India and Kazakhstan to train for counter-insurgency/ counter-terrorism operations in mountainous, rural scenario under UN mandate. 

• The scope of the joint exercise includes professional exchange, planning & execution of operation in counter-terrorism environment at sub-unit level and sharing expertise on skills at arms, combat shooting and experiences in counter-insurgency/ counter-terrorism operations.

• The exercise will culminate after a 48 hours long validation exercise which will involve a scenario of neutralisation of terrorists in a semi-rural hideout.

• The exercise will strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices between the Armed Forces of India and Kazakhstan.

India-Kazakhstan relations

• India was one of the first countries to recognise the independence of Kazakhstan, which was on December 16, 1991. Diplomatic relations were established in February 1992. 

• India and Kazakhstan have been strategic partners since 2009.

• Both countries actively cooperate under the aegis of multilateral fora including CICA (Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia), Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the UN organisations. India has been a consistent supporter of Kazakhstan’s initiative on CICA and is actively participating in the process. 

• The India-Kazakhstan Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) established in 1993 is the apex bilateral institutional mechanism for developing trade, economic, scientific, technological, industrial and cultural cooperation between the two countries. 

• Several Joint Working Groups (JWGs) have been established in areas including counter-terrorism, trade & economic cooperation, defence & military technical cooperation, information technology, hydrocarbons and textiles.

• The Indo-Kazakh Defence Cooperation is carried out under the framework of an agreement on ‘Defence and Military Technical cooperation’ signed in July 2015. The agreement includes various areas including conduct of joint training, exercises, military-technical cooperation and UN peacekeeping.

• Kazakhstan is India’s largest trade and investment partner in Central Asia. In 2019, total bilateral trade between India and Kazakhstan amounted to $1.56 billion.

• Kazakhstan was one of the first countries with which India launched civil nuclear cooperation through a uranium purchase contract. 

• India provides capacity building assistance to Kazakhstan in various specialised fields under Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme sponsored by the ministry of external affairs.

• Since February 2018, Indian has extended e-visa facility to Kazakh citizens.

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