India and Uzbekistan today announced to elevate their mutual Strategic Partnership to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership level. The Central Asian country also agreed to establish a framework for long-term supply of uranium to India and discuss the sites of the mining for rare earth minerals.
India and Uzbekistan today signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) in various sectors, including Mining, Ayurveda, Tourism, Economic and financial dialogue, Comprehensive and strategic partnership, Higher education and the environment. Both Countries agreed to set a target of 5 billion dollars of bilateral trade by 2030, which is 5 times the current trade.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also received the highest award of Uzbekistan for his great work and efforts towards the cooperation between the two countries. The “Oliy Darajali Do’stlik” Order is Uzbekistan’s Highest Award for Foreign Leaders. “Oliy Darajali Do’stlik” ordeni, the Order of Friendship of the Highest Degree, in English reads as “Friendship of the Highest Degree” or “the Dostlik Order of the highest degree.” The highest-degree order is reserved for heads of state and government and comparable international figures.
Our correspondent reports that on the second day of his visit to the Central Asian country, Prime Minister Modi held a bilateral meeting with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan and both sides reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations.
The talks focused on expanding cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, infrastructure, critical minerals, mining, defence and security, innovation, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, health, information technology, digital public infrastructure, including UPI and education, among others. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said both countries have zero tolerance against terrorism, extremism and separatism.
Mr Modi said, the cooperation between the two countries will not be restricted to the capitals but will extend to city and state-level partnership.
During his announcement, Prime Minister Modi said, both countries will work for cooperation in the field of sports and promotion of Hindi. A scholarship was also announced for this purpose.
The two sides decided to elevate the bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, reflecting the growing depth and expanding scope of cooperation. Both leaders witnessed the exchange of several MoUs and agreements covering a wide range of areas, including mining, culture, education, tourism, ayurveda, among others. A Letter of Intent for the restoration and conservation of the Buddhist sites of Fayaz Tepa and Kara Tepa in Uzbekistan was also agreed upon
