Targeting bilateral trade at $1 billion with India within two years, leading a high-level delegation in what will be his first visit to India since assuming office in 2016, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is arriving in New Delhi on a two-day visit on Sunday. The visit is expected to reinforce the strategic partnership between the two countries and to be centred on connectivity, investment cooperation, and trade and agro business.
According to an official statement of the MEA, the visiting leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold restricted and delegation-level talks on October 1. The two leaders had met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Qingdao, China, in June and also at last year’s SCO Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, when India was made a full member of the Eurasian inter-governmental organisation.
Stating that relations between India and Uzbekistan have traditionally been close and cordial, the statement said: “Since 2011, the two countries have elevated their relations to the level of strategic partnership encompassing cooperation in a wide spectrum of areas including political, economic, education, health, human resource development, defence, counter-terrorism, science and technology, culture and tourism.”
Briefing the media Uzbek Ambassador to India Farhod Arziev said that during the visit, a meeting of the Uzbek-Indian Business Forum will be held. “The two countries were working on more transport corridors to boost trade after India joined the Ashgabat Agreement, which seeks to establish an international transport and transit corridor between Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan,” the envoy added.
As reported by FE earlier, the year 2018 has been declared in Uzbekistan as the ‘Year of Supporting Active Entrepreneurship, Innovative Ideas and Technologies’. The Uzbek government has announced two-year ‘inspection holiday’ for entrepreneurs.
The Uzbek envoy had told FE, ““Since we are land-locked country, connectivity and communication are very important for us. We are working on new railway projects through Afghanistan and also exploring the benefits of the North-South Corridor.”
According to Ilhomjom Nematov, Ambassador of Special Assignments and Special Envoy of the President of Uzbekistan, both countries are trying to take bilateral trade from the current level of around $350 million to $1 billion by 2020.
President Ram Nath Kovind will host a banquet for his Uzbek counterpart.