Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will embark on his maiden state visit to India next week and a number of agreements in political and economic sectors are expected to be signed during his visit, said the country's ambassador Farhod Arziev on Tuesday.
"The first visit by Uzbekistan President will take place early next week. Expectations from both the sides are high. The recent trends of political dialogue, trade and economic interactions between two countries have been very dynamic," Arziev said. He added that Mirziyoyev's visit will further deepen the strategic partnership between India and Uzbekistan and increase cooperation in education, culture, tourism and various other sectors.
"We will see a number of important agreements being signed in different areas in political, economic, humanitarian and many other sectors. The visit will also contribute to increasing our people-to-people contacts and establishing partnerships between our regions and cities," Arziev said.
He informed that two partnership agreements between Gujarat and Andijan and another between Samalkha and Agra are expected to be signed during the visit.
In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China's Qingdao. In August, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held bilateral discussions with the Uzbek President during her visit to the Central Asian country.
The Uzbek President will be accompanied by senior delegation members and is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Modi, as well as Indian government officials.
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The visit marks a new chapter in Indo-Uzbek ties and a future that is rich in programs of bilateral cooperation. Strengthened over the past few years, this mutually prosperous relationship has led to several high-level, multi-sectoral delegation visits, paving the way for this momentous meeting. A series of contracts and agreements set to boost trade ties between the two countries are expected to be signed during this period.
Over the last two years, the Republic of Uzbekistan has made tremendous progress on important political, economic, and social reforms. As Central Asia's key power, these concerted efforts have reinforced Uzbekistan's goal to achieve a robust market economy.
The President will be accompanied by a high-level Uzbek delegation, including senators and regional governors, as well as heads of committees for investment and tourism, ministries of trade, healthcare, education, Information Technology and innovation. The delegation will also include the heads of agencies for industries like oil and gas, energy, chemicals, airlines, automobile, electric equipment, agriculture, food production and textiles, among others.
Mirziyoyev is scheduled to hold discussions on Indo-Uzbek collaborations in trade, economic and financial investments, innovation and humanitarian efforts. Discussions will also entail the Republic of Uzbekistan's prospective projects in the fields of information technology, medicine, pharmaceuticals and tourism.
The Indo-Uzbek relationship has created several notable Indian investments including UzMinda JV by Minda Group, which has been producing spare automobile parts in the Navoi Free Economic Zone since 2011, Nova Pharma JV in Termez since 2011 and the Ramada hotel, which has been operating in the capital city of Tashkent since 2009.
A total of 139 operational companies, currently exist in Uzbekistan with the participation of the Indian capital. Indian companies in Uzbekistan operate in a wide range of sectors, from wholesale, retail and manufacturing to petroleum, chemicals textiles, leather, agriculture, construction and service industries.
In the last six months, trade turnover between the two countries has reached USD 135 million and future Indo-Uzbek economic relations will have significant potential in the fields of pharmaceuticals, IT, tourism, healthcare and innovations among others.