New Delhi, Sep 15 (UNI) Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday said that it was the right time for a take off for relationship between the CIS ( Commonwealth of Independent States) region and India.

Addressing the session on Future of India-CIS ‘Silk Route’ Partnerships at LEADS 2021, organized by FICCI here, he said, "This is the right time for a ‘take off’ for relationships between the CIS region and India. India is standing ready to cooperate, invest and build and we look forward to growing our relationship, both on ground, on commerce, on culture as well as up in the air. The sky is the limit."

As a way ahead towards the future of the India-CIS partnerships, Mr Scindia said, “The essential elements that we need to look at going forward on a global scale is the ability to collaborate, exchange and share.”
He emphasized that the 2-Cs that are quintessential to any country’s economic growth is air connectivity and commerce.
Highlighting the Prime Minister's initiative, Connect Central Asia Policy launched in 2015 and the INSTC, he said, “This is a tremendous opportunity for both our regions to capitalise on robust air connectivity that is fundamental in today’s date because it saves costs and time and is a huge economic multiplier.”

Speaking on the post-pandemic era and initiatives by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Minister stressed that building air connectivity through the CIS countries and programmes such as UDAAN within countries and states and expanding freight corridors would be prioritized.


Choriyev Jasurbek Ergashevich, Deputy Minister of Transport, Government of Uzbekistan, said, “Uzbekistan has realised that interconnectivity, cooperation, establishing a dialogue and, most importantly, trust are the driving forces to ensure stability and sustainable development to improve the living standards and well-being of our regions.”
Highlighting the initiatives by the Government of Uzbekistan, he said, “Over the years, Uzbekistan has been carrying out systematic reforms aimed at liberalisation and modernisation of its national economy ensuring its sustainable development and consistent integration into the world economic relations.”
Speaking about the transport sector, he said, “The Govt of Uzbekistan gives strategic importance to the development of transport industry and undertakes large-scale measures in developing transport infrastructure at international and regional levels.”
Sandip Somany, Past President, FICCI and Vice Chairman, Managing Director, Somany Impresa Group said, “Connections, connectivity and partnerships have been a constant reminder that this world is one family bridging distances and bringing its communities closer.”

Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo India, said, “Now is the time to turn our attention to CIS region. We must replace our land routes with air routes and that is something IndiGo is committed to do.”

As a way ahead in the future of partnerships, Mr Leonid Petukhov, Managing Partner, AFK Systema, Russia, said, “Textiles, electric production and tourism are areas of collaboration that we can look at between the regions. Tourism is one of the areas where we envision lot of collaborations and are looking at opening hotels in India.”

Arun T Ramchandani, Co-Chair, FICCI Defence Committee and EVP and Head, Weapon and Engineering Systems, L&T Defence, said, “Creation of air links between India and CIS region and operationalisation of INSTC will therefore be crucial to establish trade relations with CIS region.”
Vladimir Finov, Head of Representative Office, RZD International, Moscow, said, “We are closely working with Indian railways on jointly transforming rail lines to high-speed rail networks.”
UNI AKM GK 2151