US wants 'New Silk Road' in Central Asia to trade with India

New York, Sep 20 (PTI) The United States has backed a
"New Silk Road" through Central Asia to boost economic
connectivity across India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the
Secretary of State envisaging a trade network in the region
where a "Pakistani businessman can set up shop in Bangalore".
Hillary Clinton discussed the need for the New Silk Road
with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in a
meeting here on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly,
senior US officials said.
The officials said Clinton's vision of the new silk road
encompasses "an economic space between Central Asia and India,
Bangladesh."
Such a route will be a modern day manifestation of the
historical silk road, through which South and Central Asian
nations connected with each other for trade and cultural
exchanges.
Indian merchants used to trade spices, gems and textiles
from the Great Wall of China to the banks of the Bosphorus
through this silk route.
The new Silk Road would not be a single thoroughfare
like its namesake, but an international web and network of
economic and transit connections, officials said.
"That means building more rail lines, highways, energy
infrastructure, like the proposed pipeline to run from
Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan, through Pakistan into
India. It means upgrading the facilities at border crossings,
such as India and Pakistan are now doing at Wagah," they said.
The New Silk Road would also focus on removing
bureaucratic barriers and other impediments to the free flow
of goods and people.
Today, an Indian businessman has to import cement from
Southeast Asia instead of from the flourishing cement industry
next door in Pakistan, while a traveler going between India
and Pakistan not only has a difficult time getting a visa he
also often has to be routed through airports a thousand miles
away just to get across the border.
But a new silk road aims to eliminate hassles for people
and goods to cross borders.
Such a trading structure will help an entrepreneur in
Chennai to put her products on a truck that travels
uninterrupted through Pakistan, through Afghanistan, to her
customer in Kazakhstan. It would mean that a Pakistani
businessman should be able to open a branch in Bangalore.
Officials said the Silk Road strategy would also
essentially help Afghanistan become economically self
sufficient. It would give impetus to big regional projects
like the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline.
They said while it will take time to realise such
cooperation, it will be in the interest of India, Pakistan,
Afghanistan as well as other nations.