Central Asia and the EU-India connectivity partnership - Reinventing the spicy network

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Abstract

The EU-India summit of May the 8th 2021 approved a vast array of common initiatives – among which the EU-India Connectivity Partnership, the most important European global connectivity enterprise yet. Based on ‘shared values of democracy, freedom, rule of law and respect for human rights that underpin their Strategic Partnership’, it comprises four chapters: (1) digital; (2) transport; (3) energy and (4) people-to-people. The Connectivity Partnership is presented as ‘a transparent, viable, inclusive, sustainable, comprehensive and rules-based approach’ to connectivity. The Euro-Indian connectivity partnership is the soundest and most comprehensive political model for cooperation inspired by European experiences. It builds on earlier initiatives such as the Euro-Japanese partnership and the general framework of the EU-Asia connectivity, which is well summarised in a recent European working paper. This paper aims to suggest leads for a more comprehensive European strategy, starting by some thoughts on the history of connectivity and on the history of a historically – and most literally – central region which no connectivity strategy can ever forget: Central Asia! […]