H.E.Mr. Abdulaziz Kamilov, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan is visiting India from 14-16 January, 2020 to participate in the Raisina Dialogue 2020. External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Kamilov held a bilateral meeting
today.
Referring to the Strategic Partnership of the two countries, both Ministers emphasised on the need to maintain the momentum of high level exchanges and implement the agreements reached during the visits of President of Uzbekistan to India in October, 2018 and
January, 2019, the visit of Chief Minister of Gujarat (October 2019) and that of Defence Minister (November 2019) to Uzbekistan.
Emphasizing on the need to boost bilateral trade and investment, the Ministers agreed to work towards early conclusion of the Feasibility Study to be jointly conducted by the two sides to begin negotiations for a Preferential Trade Agreement. External Affairs
Minister reiterated the need for early operationalization of the USD 200 million of Line of Credit extended by India to Uzbekistan for which Uzbek side is in the process of finalizing necessary details of the identified projects.
Foreign Minister Kamilov reiterated the invitation extended by President of Uzbekistan to Prime Minister to visit Uzbekistan. Foreign Minister Kamilov briefed EAM on Uzbekistan’s efforts to liberalize its economy, create business friendly conditions and attract
foreign investment including that from Indian companies. The Ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fields of defence, counter-terrorism and security, information and communication technology, development partnership and promote cultural exchanges.
External Affairs Minister and Foreign Minister Kamilov highly evaluated the initiative of the India-Central Asia Dialogue at the level of Foreign Ministers with the participation of Afghanistan which was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in January 2019. The next
Dialogue will be held in India in 2020. Foreign Minister Kamilov stated that he looks forward to participating in it. Cooperation in the multilateral fora including the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was also discussed.
Foreign Minister Kamilov extended an invitation to External Affairs Minister to visit Uzbekistan. Dates of the visit will be decided in due course.
During his visit, Foreign Minister Kamilov will give an address at the Raisina Dialogue and is expected to call on the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 15 January, 2020.
New Delhi
January 14, 2020