On December 13 this year, Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan S.Umurzakov held a videoconference meeting with Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of India Piyush Goyal.

During the conversation, the current state and prospects for the development of bilateral investment and trade and economic cooperation, the expansion of interregional cooperation, the implementation of joint projects and issues related to the organization of bilateral events were discussed.

Issues of organizing a visit of a working group headed by the leadership of the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade to Delhi to hold meetings with relevant ministries, government agencies and private companies in India to discuss cooperation and develop practical proposals and initiatives as well as the development of economic cooperation program between Uzbekistan and India were considered.

Issues related to the organization of the 13th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of India in early 2022, as well as the participation of heads of Uzbek regions in the 10th Global Summit in Gujarat in January 2022 were discussed.

The parties discussed practical aspects of creating Uzbek-Indian Joint Working Group on trade and economic issues and holding its first meeting to systemize the tasks related to economic partnership between Uzbekistan and India, and elaborate rational proposals for their accelerated solution. The sides stressed the need for joint efforts to develop bilateral trade, an area with a significant untapped potential. In this context, the parties expressed mutual intentions to accelerate the process of preparing and signing the Preferential Trade Agreement between the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of India.

The course of investment cooperation, which also has great opportunities for enhancing cooperation between the two countries, was discussed. It was noted that joint work is currently underway on the implementation of a number of investment projects worth about $700 million in the areas of infrastructure development, tourism and the pharmaceutical industry. The parties called for the accelerated completion of discussion the draft of Agreement on the Mutual Protection and Promotion of Investments between the governments of Uzbekistan and India with a view to signing it in the first quarter of next year. This step will give a new impetus to the development of investment cooperation and the rapprochement of the business communities of the two countries.

The parties also discussed prospects for cooperation in experience exchange in stimulating the accelerated growth of various industries. An agreement was reached on practical cooperation in this area.

Measures to accelerate the utilization of $448 million credit line allocated by the Eximbank of India for the implementation of a number of infrastructure and social projects in Uzbekistan were also considered.

Following the meeting, further steps to implement the reached agreements were identified.