Uzbekistan gives engaging situations to Indian traders in IT, textiles, electronics, prescription drugs & minerals: Envoy

Ambassador Sardor Rustambaev, who beforehand led the diplomatic mission of Uzbekistan in France and Portugal and just lately took over as the pinnacle of mission in India, spoke completely to ET.

How would you characterize India-Uzbekistan strategic partnership?
– The strategic partnership between India and Uzbekistan may be described as an especially essential and mutually useful cooperationbased on the frequent pursuits and values of each international locations. The relations between our international locations are multifaceted and canopy politics, economics, tradition, tourism and different areas.

Right this moment, the important thing indicators of the New Uzbekistan are its openness to the world and the breadth of exterior relations. On this regard, an essential path of our nation’s overseas coverage and overseas financial course is rising interactionswith the South Asia states, initially, with India.

Our international locations, being dedicated to the centuries-long traditions, reveal a concerted curiosity in taking bilateral ties to a high quality new degree. After the election of Shavkat Mirziyoyev because the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2016, the Uzbek-Indian relations are experiencing a Renaissance. They’ve acquired a vibrant and much more fruitful nature.

A daily and trusting dialogue has been established between President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which creates a stable basis for interstate relations.

It should even be emphasised that in the present day India has spectacular financial, scientific, technological and mental potential, being within the technique of transition to the standing of a world energy. Bearing in mind the place and function of India on the planet economic system and politics, constructing sustainable strategic, diplomatic and financial ties with it meets the nationwide and state pursuits of Uzbekistan.

Bilateral partnership is predicated on mutual respect, belief and the want to develop cooperation in varied fields. Our international locations present nice curiosity in deepening engagement within the fields of commerce, funding, tourism, power, transport, educationand tradition.

Each international locations actively cooperate on the worldwide organizations such because the UN, SCO and others, which helps strengthen their positions within the area and the world.

Thus, the strategic partnership between India and Uzbekistan performs an essential function in enhancing stability and growth in each Central and South Asia.

What’s Uzbekistan’s plan to emerge as a hub for India’s presence in Central Asia?
Uzbekistan-India relations may be characterised as a pure partnership between the 2 historic civilizations related by sturdy commerce and cultural ties.

An essential facet of our fashionable strategic relations is the geopolitical place of Uzbekistan and its function in Central Asia, which gives India with entry to the area and its assets.

A vital venue for energetic interactions between Uzbekistan and India is the India-Central Asia Dialogue platform. This mechanism, as common conferences on the degree of overseas ministers, was launched in 2019 on the joint initiative of Tashkent and New Delhi. As a part of this, the India-Central Asia Enterprise Council was put in place in 2020.

India sees Central Asia as considered one of its “prolonged neighborhood” and considers it as a strategically important area, wealthy in power assets and an essential transport and transit hub for entry to the huge Eurasian house, in addition to a promising political, commerce and financial associate.

On this regard, to additional promote engagementswith our area in 2021, this dialogue mechanism has been upgraded to the extent of a summit of state leaders. The primary India-Central Asia Summit, held on-line in January 2022, has opened up one other important web page within the relations between our international locations.

The President of Uzbekistan, in his deal with at this Summit, has underscored such precedence essential areas of cooperation as the event of human capital by way of energetic interactions within the training and healthcare based mostly on the widespread introduction of superior expertise, data and applied sciences of India, deepening financial partnerships, cooperation in tradition and humanities.

On this context, we should always emphasize that for our nation the superior training and data are the premise for the event of society and prevention of recent threats, which can also be essential for Central Asian companions within the sustainable growth of the area.

The enterprise circles of Uzbekistan and India get pleasure from favorable situations to advertise joint tasks in varied fields in our nation to promote the domestically produced aggressive items on the worldwide markets, present providers within the info expertise, medication and different areas close to and much overseas.

What are areas that Uzbekistan seeks investments from India?
It could most likely be extra right to say that Uzbekistan is just not merely searching for any investments, however is moderately providing engaging situations to Indian traders in such areas as info expertise, textiles, electronics, medication, prescription drugs, renewable power, mineral assets processing, chemical trade and others.

In Uzbekistan, for over the previous 6-7 years, the large-scale set of reforms have been applied to assist a enterprise exercise and solidify worldwide cooperation on this path.

I want to underscore that the Indian companies are capitalizing on the favorable funding local weather created in our nation.

In recent times, we’ve got witnessed a major intensification of bilateral funding cooperation. Institution in 2018 on the Chamber of Commerce and Trade of Uzbekistan of the Uzbek-Indian Entrepreneurship Growth Heart with an “IT laboratory” put in place in 2021and the Uzbekistan India Enterprise Council along with the Confederation of Indian Trade – all of those are geared toward making certain intensive commerce and industrial cooperation between the companies of each international locations.

The conferences of the bilateral Intergovernmental Fee on Commerce, Financial, Scientific and Technical Cooperation are held frequently. There are joint working teams/committees on commerce, coordination and promotion of sensible implementation of bilateral tasks, textiles, agriculture and plant quarantine, prescription drugs and public well being, tourism, info and communication applied sciences, science and expertise, and house analysis.

In 2023, a commerce turnover between Uzbekistan and India reached practically 760 mln. USD. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mirror the present potential of mutual commerce in any respect. Due to this fact, the leaders of the 2 international locations have set a purpose to extend the extent of bilateral commerce to $1 billion over the approaching years.

The curiosity of Indian traders in Uzbekistan is consistently rising. Particularly, shut cooperation has been established in such areas as prescription drugs, healthcare, greater training, growth of tourism infrastructure, manufacturing of automotive parts and others. There are greater than 420 enterprises in Uzbekistan with the participation of Indian capital, together with 280 enterprises with one hundred pc Indian capital.

A selected consideration is paid to the implementation of joint tasks with Indian firms in Free Financial Zones (FEZ) of Uzbekistan, together with within the pharmaceutical cluster and pharmaceutical FEZs. The cooperation on the power transition has good prospects, particularly on renewable power sources, particularly photo voltaic, power environment friendly techniques and inexperienced hydrogen applied sciences.

Uzbekistan is considering additional deepening partnerships with India within the excessive applied sciences, which is likely one of the world leaders within the subject of IT applied sciences, occupying a powerful place within the world programming and IT outsourcing market. Promising areas of interplay are synthetic intelligence, large information analytics, machine studying, photonics, blockchain, fintech and sensible logistics.

In recent times, our Indian associates have made a major contribution to the event of the IT sector in Uzbekistan. In 2019, the Joint Committee on Cooperation in Science and Know-how was established. The identical yr, with the participation of the Software program Know-how Park of India, the Tashkent IT Park was created.

What’s Uzbekistan’s plan for utilization of Chabahar Port?
Transport connectivity is a vital space of strategic partnership between Uzbekistan and India. A radical enchancment in transport and different infrastructure connectivity between the 2 international locations, in addition to the areas of Central and South Asia, is important to make sure elevated mutual commerce, funding cooperation, tourism and cultural exchanges.

On this context, the management of Uzbekistan has endorsed India’s accession to the Ashgabat Settlement (on the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman transport hall). Uzbekistan additionally helps New Delhi’s efforts to develop Iran’s Chabahar Port, which ought to turn out to be a key transit hub for India’s commerce with Afghanistan and different Central Asian states. The President of Uzbekistan has accredited the choice to hitch the nation to the North-South transport hall.

A once-existing caravan route known as a ‘Spice Route’ traditionally related India with Central Asia. Right this moment, there’s an pressing must create new dependable commerce and transport communications between the markets of Central and South Asia.

Having mentioned that, the participation of the 2 international locations in selling the connectivity of the areas of Central and South Asia can turn out to be an essential element of regional interactionsbetween the 2 international locations and the important thing to enhancing bilateral, regional commerce and financial cooperation.

A Excessive-Stage Worldwide Convention “Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity. Challenges and Alternatives” organized on the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan in Tashkent on July 15-16, 2021 demonstrated huge alternatives to deepenpolitical dialogue, financial cooperation and contacts between folks, the 2 international locations, in addition to neighboring areas.

The Convention was attended by heads of state, overseas ministers and excessive representatives of Central and South Asia, different overseas international locations, heads of worldwide and regional organizations, world monetary establishments and corporations. India was represented by a high-level delegation led by International Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

The principle purpose of the discussion board was to strengthen traditionally shut and pleasant ties, belief and good neighborliness between the international locations of Central and South Asia within the pursuits of all peoples and international locations of each areas.

On the inaugural session, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev addressed the Convention contributors. The President has outlined 10 proposals to open up the brand new alternatives for a extra full realization of the commerce, financial, cultural and civilizational potential of the international locations of Central and South Asia.

All these proposals and initiatives aroused curiosity not solely among the many states of those areas, but additionally the remainder of the world neighborhood. Particularly, the problems of making new transport corridors connecting Central Asia with the Indian Ocean had been mentioned.

The worldwide discussion board has as soon as once more demonstrated the “Tashkent spirit” of cooperation. Throughout plenary and breakout periods, contributors have tackled selling initiatives to increase commerce, financial, transport, communications, cultural and humanitarian cooperation by way of furtherdeepening regional connectivity.

I want to emphasize that President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan is an activesupporter of the constant implementation of main tasks on the connectivity of Central and South Asia.