India, China can cooperate in energy security: expert

Nov 25, 2006, 11:25 GMT

New Delhi, Nov 25 (IANS) India and China can further develop their cooperation in the area of energy security by exploiting their mutual synergies, said Talmiz Ahmad, director-general of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA).

'India's energy discourse is based on cooperation, rather than competition and rivalry, which is the case with the US,' Ahmad, who served earlier in the petroleum ministry, told experts and academics at a three-day seminar on Central Asia that began here Saturday.

The international seminar, 'Energy and Transport: Linkages between Central and South Asia', has been organised by the NGO Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

'India and China should have multiplicity of engagements with other countries to achieve energy security. China and India have significant synergies in the energy sector,' Ahmad said.

India and China have already jointly bid for energy projects in Sudan, Syria and Colombia.

Mahendra P. Lama, chair of the Centre for South, Central and Southeast Asian Studies at the JNU, underlined the huge potential for cooperation between India and Central Asia in the crucial areas of trade and energy security. 'Borders are opportunities, not obstacles,' he stressed.

Leading Central Asia specialists like Hilal A. Raza from Pakistan, Aftab Kazi from Kyrgyzstan and Pascal Laffont from the Brussels-based Energy Charter Secretariat are participating in the seminar.

© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service