Tashkent, Aug 30: India and Uzbekistan on Sunday decided to elevate their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and set a target of USD 5 billion in annual trade by 2030 following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
The two sides inked 11 agreements for boosting engagement in several key sectors, including mining and tourism and agreed to establish a framework for long-term supply of Uranium from Uzbekistan to India in line with cooperation in the civil-nuclear energy sector.
The Modi-Mirziyoyev talks focused on expanding cooperation in areas of trade, investment, infrastructure, critical minerals, mining, defence and security, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, health, information technology, digital public infrastructure, including UPI and education.
The two sides also set a target of USD 5 billion in annual bilateral trade by 2030, Modi said in his press statement. The current volume of bilateral trade between the two nations is over USD 1 billion.
Both the leaders announced elevating the India-Uzbekistan strategic ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, reflecting the growing depth and expanding scope of cooperation.
Modi and Mirziyoyev witnessed the exchange of agreements covering a wide range of areas such as mining, culture, education, tourism, ayurveda, among others.
“Uzbekistan is at the heart of Central Asia and is at the heart of India’s engagement in the region,” Modi said.
The prime minister added: “A stronger India-Uzbekistan partnership will be a powerful force for peace, progress and prosperity in Central Asia.”
Delving into the ambitious agenda of future cooperation between the two sides, Modi said India and Uzbekistan will encourage their defence industries to look at co-development and co-production of military hardware.
On trade and investment, he said issues relating to market access, banking, payment systems and connectivity will be addressed in a structured way.
“The close defence and security cooperation between our two countries reflects our deep mutual trust. In the future, we will promote direct linkages, co-production, and co-development between our defence industries,” Modi said.
“We believe that terrorism, extremism, and separatism pose serious challenges to the entire region.”
“Maintaining a policy of zero tolerance against these threats has been, and will continue to be, our shared resolve,” he added.
A Letter of Intent for the restoration and conservation of the Buddhist sites of Fayaz Tepa and Kara Tepa in Uzbekistan was also agreed upon.
These ancient Buddhist monasteries in southern Uzbekistan highlight how Buddhism spread along the Silk Road and flourished in Central Asia.
The two sides announced that a commercial pact was firmed up between NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL) and Uzbekistan’s National Interbank Processing Centre JSC to enable UPI apps of India to scan national QR – UZQR for making merchant payments in the Central Asian nation.
The announcements made at the end of the talks between Modi and Mirziyoyev included a grant of USD 1 million for afforestation in the Aral Sea region.
Modi landed in Tashkent on Saturday on a two-day visit to bolster ties with Uzbekistan in a range of areas, including trade, investment, defence and clean energy.
“We are celebrating the 15th anniversary of our strategic partnership. I am delighted that, on this special occasion, we are elevating our ties to the level of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” Modi said in his opening remarks at the bilateral talks.
“We will move forward by setting concrete goals within this framework,” he said in Hindi.
The prime minister also made a mention of the “productive talks” he had with the Uzbek president over dinner last night.
“We had a productive discussion over dinner last night and took several important decisions.”
“We will establish a Coordination Council at the level of foreign ministers to provide direction to all aspects of our cooperation through close coordination,” Modi said.
The prime minister said both sides will also elevate their existing joint commission from the level of secretaries to that of ministerial level.
“Both sides will jointly organise a business summit featuring business leaders from both nations.”
“We will also establish a long-term arrangement for the supply of uranium,” he said without elaborating.
A joint statement said the prime minister and the Uzbek president agreed to explore cooperation in the fields of geology, mining, nuclear energy, industrial cooperation, and critical and strategic minerals, including projects for the processing of mineral resources, production of value- added products and recycling initiatives.
“They also expressed interest in encouraging Indian companies to participate in the development of prospective mineral deposits in Uzbekistan and Uzbek enterprises for joint collaboration in India. The leaders expressed interest in extended cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” it said.
The statement said Modi and Mirziyoyev agreed to expand cooperation in the field of critical minerals through the implementation of joint projects in geological exploration, mining, mineral processing, and the development of integrated value chains.
The Uzbek president said his country is determined to boost ties with India in diverse sectors.
“We are aiming to advance cooperation in sectors such as energy, culture, critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, jewellery, and agriculture. “
“We will prepare roadmaps for each of these sectors; specific teams from India will visit here, and our teams will travel to India, enabling us to clearly define our objectives in these fields,” he said.
The joint statement said the two leaders welcomed the close alignment of their positions and the growing importance of Central Asia.
Amid a complex geopolitical situation, they stressed the need for a free, open and rules-based international order. Building on their multilateral cooperation, it said.
“The leaders highly appreciated the progress achieved in regional cooperation and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening engagement within Central Asia–India format at the level of Heads of States and other levels,” it said.
