India, Uzbekistan To Ramp Up Cooperation In Digital Payments, Start-Ups, Agri

India is keen to upgrade the India-Uzbekistan bilateral relations to a more intense engagement in digital payments, start-ups, agri and pharma sectors as the two countries mark the thirtieth year of their diplomatic relations.

India-Uzbekistan ties have become key to the government’s vision of an integrated extended neighbourhood amidst rising geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty which dictate the need to identify new drivers for ambitious growth in bilateral trade.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has underlined seven emerging areas of cooperation while addressing the India-Uzbekistan Inter Governmental Commission on Thursday (28 July) which include digital payments, space cooperation, agri and dairy, pharma, gems and jewellery, micro-small-medium enterprises and inter-regional cooperation.

Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Jamshid Khodjaev who is on a visit to India for a session of the IGC has a focus on agriculture, innovation, connectivity, science and technology, textiles and leather to build on the ties.

Ahead of the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Uzbekistan in September, Khodjaev is also keen to leverage the visit for giving a significant boost to the bilateral relations in several areas of mutual interest. Growing interactions and trade in the last few years have positioned the two countries to deepen the relations.

Trade has increased from $247 million in 2019-20 to $342 million in 2021-22, a growth of 38.5 per cent. Goyal has also stressed upon the need for an integrated approach for regional connectivity which has been an issue that the two countries hope to resolve via India’s proposal for inclusion of the Chabahar port in the framework of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

India and Uzbekistan have been moving to strengthen their partnership to develop connectivity in Central Asia via the Chabahar port which once connected through all-weather highways on the INSTC route, can help to increase their bilateral trade by over two times to over $1 billion.

Indian companies can take advantage of Uzbekistan’s various trade agreements and implement joint beneficial investment projects in the area to tap the economic and trade potential of the two countries.

Uzbekistan has free-trade agreements with the Commonwealth of Independent States nations and Georgia.

India has achieved a notable economic presence in the region in the pharmaceutical sector and accounts for about 30 per cent of the Central Asian pharmaceutical imports. Uzbekistan was interested in maximum realisation of its pharma sector potential.

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