Tashkent: Describing Central Asia as India's strategic neighbour facing similar terrorism problem with epicentre in the "common neighbourhood", External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha today (Nov 6) offered help to Uzbekistan and other states in the region in combating the scourge.

"For us, Central Asia is our immediate strategic neighbourhood... The epicentre of terrorism lies in our common neighbourhood. India is ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with its Central Asian neighbours in confronting and overcoming this menace," Sinha said on the opening day of his three-day visit to the country that emerged as an independent nation in 1991.

Sinha, on the first-ever high-level visit by an Indian dignitary to Uzbekistan after its break from the Soviet Union, was delivering his keynote address to the third India-Central Asia regional seminar organised by the Indian Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) with Uzbek Institute of Strategic and Inter- Regional Studies.

Embarking on a visit that will also seek to strengthen economic ties with the fledgling nations in the region, the Minister said greater economic engagement was needed between India and Central Asia.

PTI