Despite a lot of scepticism in diplomatic circles over his much-postponed India visit, Russian and Indian officials here remain committed to the materialisation of the visit and are vigorously working on a number of key economic, political and military-technical agreements, likely to be signed during Yeltsin's trip to Delhi.

On cards are the visits by a number of working groups to Moscow for the finalisation of the documents in key spheres of bilateral cooperation.

Yeltsin's current visit to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan is his first visit abroad since his trip to London for the G-7 summit. Although his spokesman Dmitry Yekushkin in Tashkent tried to play down Yeltsin's mild cold and cough, back in Moscow Russian media expressed serious concerns about his health in view of the ongoing economic andpolitical crisis, and Opposition's demand for his resignation.

Yeltsin had to cut short his official engagements on Sunday in Tashkent because of his sudden indisposition. Video footage showed him walking unsteadily during the welcome ceremony and once he stumbled to be helped by Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

Yeltsin has been in quite poor health since his multiple heart bypass surgery in 1996 and the concern about his physical and mental condition was likely to continue during his trip to Almaty after Tashkent, media reports said.

While in Tashkent, Yeltsin discussed with Karimov economic cooperation and regional security in view of the hardline Islamist threat posed by the Taliban movement from neighbouring Afghanistan.

Yeltsin and Karimov issued a strong statement on Afghanistan, accusing the Taliban movement of protecting terrorism and drug trade.

Uzbekistan has been in the forefront among the Central Asian countries to distance itself from the Kremlin in order to build new relations with theWest after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

However, the threat posed by the Taliban movement recently, has led to a rapprochement between the two countries, as both Presidents agreed in Tashkent to fight against what they called ``Islamic extremism'' from Afghanistan.

During their talks, Yeltsin and Karimov also emphasised that Russia and Uzbekistan shared common positions on regional security and economic and military ties.

After Tashkent, Yeltsin arrived in Kazakh capital Almaty today on the second leg of his visit to Central Asia. He was expected to continue discussion on regional security with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in light of the new fundamentalist threat by Taliban and on combating drug trafficking originating from Afghanistan and Pakistan.