<span style="color: black;">External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar has said, India's focus in the last few years has been to rebuild links that were diminished by the colonial period.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: black;">Speaking at a conference on connectivity at Tashkent today,  the Minister said, the horizons extend from Vladivostok to the Gulf and East-Africa. He added that the challenges towards Central-Asia and Eurasia remain to the addressed.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: black;">Since 2016, India has taken practical steps to operationalize the Chabahar port in Iran. The Minister said, this provides a secure, viable and unhindered access to the sea for Central Asian countries and its efficacy is now proven.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: black;">He also said, the formation of India-Uzbekistan-Iran-Afghanistan Quadrilateral Working Group on the joint use of Chabahar port is a welcome development.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: black;">Dr Jaishankar also said that there is a need to address not just physical infrastructure but all its accompanying facets while expanding connectivity between Central Asia and South Asia.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: black;">He stressed that building connectivity is an act of trust and must conform to international law. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: black;">He further stated that respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity are the most basic principles of international relations.</span><br />''  <br />