Uzbekistan key to India's vision of integrated extended neighbourhood: Piyush Goyal
Jul 28, 2022
New Delhi [India], July 28 : Good relations with Uzbekistan is key to India's vision of an integrated extended neighbourhood, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal said.
Addressing the 13th session of the India-Uzbekistan Intergovernmental Commission (IGC), Goyal said India and Uzbekistan are celebrating 30 years of diplomatic relations.
In his remarks, the minister said India is keen to have a vibrant people-to-people relationship with Uzbekistan.
"Trade relations are a natural outcome of strengthening of bilateral relations. We need to take the relations forward in newer areas like technology, digital payment solutions and investment in start-ups," the minister said.
The minister emphasised on the need to identify new drivers for ambitious growth in bilateral trade between India and Uzbekistan. He stressed upon the need for an integrated approach for regional connectivity and cooperation, according to an official statement released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry on Thursday.
Goyal underlined seven emerging areas of cooperation between both the nations namely Digital Payments, Space Cooperation, Agri and Dairy, Pharma, Gems and Jewellery, MSME and Inter-regional cooperation.
He said that despite the COVID pandemic, interactions and trade have increased in the last few years. Bilateral trade between India and Uzbekistan rose from USD 247 million in 2019-20 to USD 342 million in 2021-22, a growth of 38.5 per cent.
"We need to explore initiatives to improve connectivity in facilitating trade between our countries," he said.
The Uzbekistan delegation was led by Jamshid Khodjaev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
In his address at the event, Khodjaev said that he is looking forward to the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Uzbekistan in September.
He said the visit of PM Modi will be utilised fully for giving a significant boost to the bilateral relations in several areas of mutual interest.
IGC meeting is an important platform to deliberate on ideas, discuss issues and strengthen bilateral relations, especially in the field of trade and investment.
