India and Uzbekistan upgraded their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, set an annual trade target of $5 billion and closed in on an agreement for uranium supply to India, as PM Narendra Modi held talks with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent.Modi announced that India would get into a long-term arrangement for supply of uranium from Uzbekistan, a major regional producer and exporter. Both sides agreed to establish a foreign minister-level coordination council to guide all aspects of cooperation under the elevated partnership.Following the talks that focused on expanding cooperation in defence and security, trade and investment, critical minerals, AI, agriculture and health, the two sides signed 11 MoUs. The areas covered included culture, education, mining, Ayurveda, tourism and restoration of Buddhist sites.PM Modi also underscored the need for zero tolerance against terrorism and extremism, saying a stronger India-Uzbekistan partnership will be a powerful force for peace, progress and prosperity in Central Asia.PM Modi and Mirziyoyev endorsed growing defence cooperation between the two countries, including through regular exchanges, capacity-building and joint activities, and expressed in a joint statement their commitment to address common security challenges by further strengthening such cooperation. Going forward, Modi said, both sides will promote direct linkages, co-production and co-development by the defence industries of both nations. “Close defence and security cooperation between our two countries reflects our deep mutual trust,” said the PM.Outlining an ambitious agenda for moving forward with “speed and tangible results” in this new phase of their partnership, the PM said both sides will also work systematically on market access, connectivity, banking and payment systems to achieve the target of $5 billion of trade by 2030.“We will work together to boost win-win cooperation in infrastructure development. Cooperation in DPI, AI, critical minerals, clean energy, space and nuclear energy is making our relationship future-ready,” said Modi, adding that Uzbekistan is at the heart of Central Asia and at the heart of India’s engagement with the region.
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Both sides believe that while India is one of Uzbekistan’s top 10 trading partners, their annual trade of $1.32 billion remains significantly below its true potential. In the meeting, the two agreed to undertake joint measures to broaden the range of goods traded between the two countries, remove non-tariff barriers and promote industrial cooperation with a view to further increasing bilateral trade turnover. They also decided to create a joint working group to address non-tariff issues and investment barriers.There was also focus on Global South cooperation with PM Modi saying that Uzbekistan’s highest honour for a foreign leader that was conferred on him by the president had left India with the added responsibility of working with Uzbekistan as “Global South partners for the betterment of humanity”.
