Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – On 29 July 2022, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Vladimir Norov met with the Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India Subramanyam Jaishankar, who arrived in Uzbekistan to attend a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

The head of the Indian External Ministry highly appreciated the results of the meeting of the SCO Ministerial Council held today in the capital of Uzbekistan, expressing gratitude to the Uzbek side for holding this event at a high organizational and substantive level. He assured that India fully supports the chairmanship of Uzbekistan in the SCO and is ready to assist in the preparation for the upcoming Samarkand Summit of the Organization.

Jaishankar stressed that for India, Uzbekistan is a key partner in the region, expanding ties with which is one of New Delhi’s foreign policy priorities. It was noted that the positive dynamics in the development of Uzbek-Indian relations plays an important role in strengthening the interconnectedness between Central and South Asia.

The readiness of the parties to intensify interaction in the political, trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian and other spheres, to continue coordination of efforts within the framework of the UN and the SCO, as well as the India-Central Asia format, was reported.

The presence of opportunities for the implementation of new joint investment projects, the development of agreements in the field of transport, trade and industry, the involvement of large Indian companies in the production of goods on the territory of Uzbekistan was noted.

Proposals were considered to expand ties in the field of education, including the opening of branches of leading Indian universities in Uzbekistan.

A schedule of upcoming joint events at various levels was discussed.

An exchange of views took place on the current situation in Afghanistan. The Indian side highly appreciated the International Conference “Afghanistan: security and economic development” held on 25-26 July 2022 in Tashkent. An agreement was reached to continue consultations on the Afghan track.