The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan Jamshid Khodjayev and Minister of Railways, Trade and Industry of the Republic of India Piyush Goyal.
During the dialogue, the current state and prospects for further strengthening of bilateral cooperation in trade, economic, investment, transport and logistics, cultural and humanitarian spheres were discussed.
As part of the intensification of joint work to bring trade turnover to $ 1 billion, an agreement was reached to accelerate the approval of the draft Agreement on preferential trade between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of India.
The mechanisms of expansion of industrial cooperation and investment cooperation are considered. Currently, more than 85 joint projects worth more than $ 3 billion are being implemented in Uzbekistan together with Indian partners in the field of education, IT technologies, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, production of building materials, textiles and others. In order to enhance investment cooperation, an agreement was reached to work out all the necessary issues for signing an Agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments in the near future.
The meeting also discussed prospects for the development of transport connectivity as a key condition for further expansion of trade and production cooperation. The parties agreed to use all existing opportunities to improve transport links by jointly developing a network of dry ports and providing mutual discounts on fees and tariffs for transportation.
An agreement was also reached to hold a meeting of India-Central Asia transport ministers in order to develop practical mechanisms for the development of logistics infrastructure, a regional network of multimodal transport corridors, and increasing direct and transit cargo transportation within the framework of the North-South initiative.
The progress of the implementation of the Cultural Exchange Program between Uzbekistan and India for 2021-2025 was reviewed. At the moment, a number of practical activities have already been implemented within the framework of this program: yoga festivals and Indian Cinema Days have been held in Uzbekistan, branches of Amity, Sharda, Sambram universities have started their work. Currently, the opening of branches of three more universities is being worked out: Glocal, LNCT, Integral. On the sidelines of the meeting, it was agreed that a joint roadmap will be developed and adopted in the near future, providing for the opening of new joint educational, professional and higher educational institutions, expanding cooperation in the field of research and technology, as well as the commercialization of innovative developments and startups.
As a result of the event, the protocol of the 13th meeting of the Uzbek-Indian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation was signed, which consolidated the decisions taken during the event and the agreements reached, the press service of the MIFT RUz reports.
