• India and Kazakhstan began a 13-day mega wargame in the Kazakh military base of Otar with a focus on boosting their counter-terror cooperation.

• The joint exercise between India and Kazakhstan was instituted as ‘Exercise Prabal Dostyk’ in 2016. After the second edition, the exercise was upgraded to a company-level exercise and renamed as ‘Exercise Kazind’. It has been further upgraded as a bi-service exercise this year by including the Air Force component.

• The Indian contingent reached Kazakhstan to participate in the seventh edition of the exercise ‘Kazind-2023’.

• The Indian Army team comprises 90 personnel led by a battalion from the Dogra Regiment.

• The Kazakhstan contingent is mainly represented by personnel from Regional Command South of Kazakh Ground Forces. 

• Thirty personnel each from the two air forces will also participate in the exercise.

• In this edition of the exercise, both sides will practice conduct of counter terrorism operations in a sub-conventional environment under United Nations mandate. 

• The exercise will provide an opportunity for the contingents to exchange views and share the best practices. Exercise Kazind will further strengthen the bond between the two armies.

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.

• 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. 

• Kazakhstan is India’s largest trade and investment partner in Central Asia.

• 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.

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