1. India needs a “look North Strategy” to engage with the Eurasia region. Various components of this strategy can be development of long term strategies for economic, trade, transportation and energy ties between India and the Central Asian region. The need for stronger engagement of the Indian private sector with its extended neighbours was recommended.
2. It was pointed out that besides bilateral initiatives, India will need to embrace regionalism as a tool of its engagement with the Eurasian region.
3. The centrality of Iran for providing access to Central Asia was emphasised. The potential of various corridors linked to INSTC which are planned was highlighted. It was argued that given the significance of these linked routes greater investment from the regional countries will be needed. In this context, India has been invited to invest in rail, road and port infrastructure in Iran, particularly in Chabahar and Bandar Abbas. It was pointed out that Afghanistan can be linked to Indian Ocean through INSTC. By developing the Afghanistan link to Chabahar there is a great possibility of connectivity with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
4. One needs to look at the transport and infrastructure links that will facilitate India’s engagement with not only Afghanistan or CARs but with a wider Eurasian region. From this perspective, Iran will be the most important hub for creating two regional complexes, Bandar Abbas and Chabahar, that will overlap and merge to form a larger regional complex.
5. Chabahar acquires special attention in view of the potential Indian investment in the mining sector of Afghanistan. It was pointed out that the beginning of the Iran-Kazakhstan railway project and construction of Qazvin-Rast-Astra in northern Iran in order to complete the north-South corridor are positive signals.
6. It was suggested that Jammu and Kashmir’s trade, tourism and central links with Central Asia should be revived. India should connect with Xinjiang and the Leh–Demchok route should be opened up. India will need to persuade China in this regard.
7. It was pointed out ‘Cooperative Geopolitics’ should be the crux of Indian Foreign Policy while dealing with Central Asia. India should look at Central Asia not only for trade and commerce but should work towards forging regional partnerships with the countries in the region.
8. India should not neglect the maritime dimension of its engagement with Eurasia. Maritime cooperation (namely the Mumbai Cooperation Organization) was recommended between India-Russia-Japan-US and China.
9. It was suggested that India should build long term partnerships with Eurasia, going beyond energy and transportation and focus more on capacity building and soft power projects. A certain some of money (say 10 billion in next five years) should be considered as India has done the same to promote India-Africa engagement. It was recommended that India can play a significant role in providing engineering expertise in developing hydro power plants in Tajikistan.
10. It was suggested that Indian firms need to join international consortia for oil and gas exploration in Central Asia and the Caspian, thus ensuring energy security for India. India has sound technology of refineries at par with established international standards. India can help in modernizing refineries in Central Asian Republics. India will do well in foraying into management and marketing of petroleum products rather than exploitation. Swap deal is another option. India and Iran can enter into such swap deals which can lead to the emergence of India as a supplier country in the region.
11. Creation of high level working groups on energy and transport cooperation with CARs and other regional partners was suggested. India can also explore possibilities of an economic agreement with the Eurasian Customs Union.
12. Annual conferences at the think tank level for better understanding of the issues related to the subject were recommended.
13. At regional level the following important suggestions were made:
    1. India can join Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC).
    2. India can look to improve cooperation in energy and transportation sector under the SCO mechanism.
    3. SCO-SARCC cooperation in energy and transport sector can be worked out.
    4. India can look to create a joint venture for the Construction of the roads and railways.
14. It was argued that India can become a hub for air connectivity for CARs.
15. At Multilateral the following important suggestions were made::
    1. Improve India’s cooperation and engagement with UN, ADB and World Bank.
    2. A special regional fund for infrastructure development can be created with contribution from regional countries with additional help coming in from International Institutions.
    3. A legal regime be created for regulating the transportation sector.

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