India-Uzbekistan Relations

Brief on India-Uzbekistan Bilateral Relations 1.  India and Uzbekistan have relations that go back to ancient history. India was one of the first countries to recognize the state sovereignty of Uzbekistan after the latter’s independence. The protocol on establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Uzbekistan was signed in Tashkent on 18 March 1992.  India and Uzbekistan declared their Strategic Partnership in 2011. Several institutionalised mechanisms operate at both political and official levels under this partnership, to ensure regular interaction. Leaders’ engagements 2. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited Uzbekistan in July 2015, June 2016 and in September 2022. President Mirziyoyev visited India in October 2018 and in January 2019. A Virtual Summit between PM and President Mirziyoyev was held in December 2020. The Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan attended the first India-Central Asia Summit on 27 January 2022 in a virtual format. The last meeting between President Mirziyoyev and PM Modi was on the sidelines of the COP-28 in Dubai in December 2023. Ministerial engagements 3. Both countries remain in touch at the Ministerial level as well. The Foreign Ministers of the two countries have met on the sidelines of India Central-Asia Dialogue, SCO meetings etc. Foreign Ministers last met on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in July 2024 in Astana. Defence Ministers, Speakers of Parliament, Agriculture Ministers have also met their counterparts. 4. The Finance Minister participated in the 9th Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Uzbekistan in September 2024. During her visit, she held meetings with President Mirziyoyev, Mr. Jamshid Khodjayev, Deputy Prime Minister; Mr. Djamshid Kuchkarov, Deputy Prime Minister and Mr. Laziz Kudratov, Minister of Investments, Industry and Trade. She also took part in the Uzbekistan-India Business Forum, during which Bilateral Investment Treaty was signed on the sidelines. Inter-Governmental Commission 5. The 13th meeting of the Uzbek-Indian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was held in New Delhi on 28 July 2022.The meeting was co-chaired by Minister of Commerce and Industry of India Shri Piyush Goyal and Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan Mr. Jamshid Khodjaev.  An agreement was also reached to hold a meeting of India-Central Asia Ministers of Transport in order to develop mechanisms for developing logistics infrastructure, a regional network of multimodal transport corridors, and increasing direct and transit cargo transportation as part of the North-South initiative. Foreign Office Consultations (FoC) 6. The then Secretary (West) Shri Sanjay Verma visited Uzbekistan on 8-9 August 2023 and held 16th Foreign Office Consultations with his counterpart Deputy Foreign Minister Bakhrom Aloyev. Secretary (West) also called on Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov.  Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Furkat Sidikov led the Uzbek delegation to the bilateral Foreign Office Consultations held in New Delhi on 11 May 2022. Bilateral Trade and Investments 7. India is among top 10 trade partners of Uzbekistan with bilateral trade USD 756.60 million (as per Uzbek statistics-2023) well below potential.  The major items of India’s exports are pharmaceutical products, mechanical equipment, vehicle parts, services, frozen buffalo meat, optical instruments and equipment and mobile phones.  India’s import from Uzbekistan consists largely of fruit and vegetable products, services, fertilizers, juice products and extracts, and lubricants. As per figures released by the Uzbek Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, Uzbekistan’s bilateral trade with India during the last Five years is:

S.No.	Year	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25 Till June-24
1	Export	423	460.60	654.90	648.50	363.60
2	Import	19.70	29.90	35.60	108.10	50.00
3	Total Trade In $ Million	442.60	490.50	690.50	756.60	388.50

8. Total Indian investments in Uzbekistan amount to US$ 325 million (approx). Indian investments by Indian companies include in pharmaceuticals, healthcare, education and residential building. 317 enterprises have opened in Uzbekistan with Indian Capital Participation by August 2024. There are four Indian Universities in Uzbekistan – Amity University in Tashkent, Sharda University in Andijan, Sambhram University in Jizzakh and Acharya University in Bukhara. Defence & Security Cooperation 9. India has longstanding and wide-ranging cooperation with Uzbekistan in the field of defence. Bilateral defence cooperation is carried out through the Joint Working Group format, established in 2019 and the fourth JWG meeting was held in Uzbekistan in April 2024. India & Uzbekistan regularly participate in joint military exercises “DUSTLIK”, with the fifth edition held in April 2024 and attended by COAS General Manoj Pande during his visit to Uzbekistan. Education 10. Mission has set up India Study Centres under “Aid to Uzbekistan” in 15 universities of Uzbekistan and activated two short term ‘Chair’ by ICCR in Samarkand State University (Economics) and Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies (Hindi).  Some Indian Study Centres also have IT instruments installed in them and equipped with books, musical instruments, Indian traditional dresses and artefacts.   In January 2023, four Uzbek Hindi scholars attended World Hindi Conference in Nadi (Fiji).   Prof. Nilufar Khodjaeva of Tashkent State University for Oriental Studies was awarded Hindi Samman Award by External Affairs Minister. 11. There is huge potential in education sector. Four Indian Universities have already set up their campuses in Uzbekistan. A proposal to set up IIT is under consideration. In 2023-24, more than 100 candidates have been selected from Uzbekistan under ITEC programmes. Cultural Cooperation 12. There is close affinity between the cultures of the two countries. Indian films, actors and songs are extremely popular in Uzbekistan since the era of the Raj Kapoor. 13. The Lal Bahadur Shastri Centre for Indian Culture (LBSCIC) had approximately 400 yoga students and 200 Kathak students in 2023 attend classes. Yoga is immensely popular with more than 2000 participants attending International Yoga Day. Yoga Federation of Uzbekistan has an Indian Yoga Teacher and maintains close relationship with Indian Embassy. Two batches of Yoga Volunteers from Yoga Federation of Uzbekistan (YFU) have been certified by Ministry of Ayush to teach Yoga. Diaspora & people-to-people ties 14. The size of the Indian community in Uzbekistan is estimated to be 15,000, including students.

Year	Uzbek visited India	Indian visited Uzbekistan
2024	12500	28200
2023	17000	45500

Multilateral engagement 15. India and Uzbekistan cooperate closely at several multilateral platforms such as the UN, G20, BRICS & SCO. Both sides also interact under the India-Central Asia framework in India-Central Asia Summit, India-Central Asia Dialogue at EAM level, Joint Working Group on Afghanistan and Central Asia Business Council. There is also India-Central Asia National Security Advisors’ meeting. Uzbekistan has also been actively participating in Voice of Global South Summit (VGSS). (September 2024)