Modi On Central Asian Tour, To Visit Russia For BRICS, SCO Summits

"It was in Tashkent that we lost one of our most popular and respected leaders, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri ji, who ignited our nation with the clarion call of 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan'. I will be paying my tributes to this proud son of India during the visit," Modi said.

In Kazakhstan, his next stop which he will visit on July 7-8, Modi said he will hold talks with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Prime Minister Karim Massimov.

"There will be delegation level talks with President Nazarbayev followed by the signing of documents and a joint press statement," he said.

Modi said he looks forward to interacting with the youth of Kazakhstan at the Nazarbayev University.

He will also inaugurate the India-Kazakhstan Centre for Excellence in Information and Communication Technology at the L.N. Gumilev Eurasian National University and also join a wreath-laying ceremony and planting of sapling at the Monument of Defenders of Motherland.

Modi will then visit Ufa for the 7th BRICS Summit and SCO Summit.

He expressed hope that the BRICS summit would build on the ground covered during the last summit in Fortaleza, Brazil.

"I expect positive outcomes in economic cooperation and cultural ties among the BRICS nations."

Modi said he will be meeting the leaders - Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, China's Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin and South Africa's Jacob Zuma - individually too at the Ufa and also meet business leaders.

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, India is an observer but is hoping to be included as a permanent member.

He flies to Turkmenistan on July 11 -- in the first visit by an Indian prime minister after P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1995.

Modi said he will hold talks with President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, which would be followed by signing of agreements and a meeting with the press.

Areas for boosting ties include tourism, fertilizers, space, science and technology and defence.

"Our bilateral trade is way below its potential and I am confident we can improve it," Modi said.

He will also inaugurate a statue of Mahatma Gandhi and a Traditional Medicine and Yoga Centre and also lay wreath at the mausoleum of the first president.

His next visit on July 12 would be to Kyrgyzstan, in the first prime ministerial visit in the last 20 years.
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