The Connect Central Asia policy is a comprehensive, multi-dimensional foreign policy framework articulated by India to deepen its engagement with the five post-Soviet Central Asian Republics (CARs): Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The policy was formally enunciated on June 12, 2012, by then Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed at the first India–Central Asia Dialogue in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. It was created to address the problem of India's lagging economic and strategic engagement with the region post-1991, despite shared historical and cultural ties, and to secure India's interests in energy, connectivity, and counter-terrorism.
The framework operates on a multi-pronged approach, committing India to strengthening political relations through high-level exchanges, building strategic and security cooperation including counter-terrorism and military training, and pursuing economic engagement, particularly in hydrocarbons and minerals. A central mechanism of the policy is the focus on connectivity, which is challenging because India shares no land border with the CARs. To overcome this, the policy prioritizes the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a multimodal route linking the Indian Ocean to Central Asia via Iran, and investment in the Iranian Chabahar Port. The policy also includes development cooperation, such as the establishment of an e-network for tele-education and tele-medicine, and a proposed Central Asian University in Bishkek.
The policy connects to related concepts and institutions, notably the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which India joined as a full member in 2017, providing a multilateral platform for engagement with all five CARs. It also connects to the India-Central Asia Dialogue and the India-Central Asia Summit, the first of which was held virtually on January 27, 2022, to institutionalize the relationship. The policy has been consistently institutionalized since its articulation, with the core principles of political, security, economic, and cultural cooperation remaining the same, but the mechanism for connectivity has been strengthened through the continued development of the INSTC and the signing of a 10-year agreement to operate the Chabahar Port's Shahid Beheshti terminal in May 2024.