TASHKENT (UzA)--- On the eve of the 21st Anniversary of the State Independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to the Republic of Uzbekistan Anumula Gitesh Sarma shared his opinions with UzA reporter Iroda Umarova, about the results of wide-scale reforms undertaken in Uzbekistan and bilateral relations established between our countries.
First of all, I would like to congratulate the people and the Government of Uzbekistan on the 21st Anniversary of Uzbekistan’s Independence Day.
Uzbekistan is an important country in Central Asia. Independent Uzbekistan has witnessed significant advancement in the areas of economic growth, integration with the international community and enrichment of its social and cultural life. We in India view with admiration Uzbekistan’s many achievement. The process initiated in the direction of strengthening of democratic institutions is important.
Uzbekistan’s successes on the road to a more diversified economy are commendable. Despite global economic difficulties in the world last year Uzbekistan achieved an 8.5% GDP growth and this year too it is growing at almost the same pace.
It is a matter of satisfaction that high-level contacts and regular exchanges have been maintained between our two countries. The visit of His Excellency President Karimov to India in May 2011 was a landmark one and has taken our friendship to an entirely new level where we are strategic partners. Since the visit, there has been an intensification of our bilateral ties.
We are convinced that India and Uzbekistan need to consolidate and expand our multifaceted cooperation to cover new areas also. The close friendly relationship of mutually beneficial cooperation between Uzbekistan and India is based on the solid foundation of shared historical and cultural heritage and on the fact that our economies complement each other. There is emotional bonding at the people to people level. There is identity of views on issues of regional security and stability. Our two countries share such values as secularism, tolerance and commitment to international peace. Both our countries are resolutely opposed to forces of fundamentalism and terrorism. In the unfolding situation in our common region, India-Uzbek ties have a positive contribution to make.
In 2011 the bilateral trade turnover was about US $ 160 million. Bilateral trade is clearly much below the real potential and both sides are keen to address this. Efficient transit corridors need to be set up and we are happy that high importance is being given to this.
India is ready to partner Uzbekistan in the Information Technology sector. Human resources are an important element of the information technology industry. The most important point here is that Uzbekistan has talented young specialists. India is ready to help Uzbekistan. The India-Uzbekistan Centre for Information Technology, named after Jawaharlal Nehru, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmokhan Singh during his visit to Uzbekistan in April 2006 in the Tashkent University of Information Technology. It is proposed to upgrade this centre this year. Further during the visit of Mr. Sachin Pilot, MOS for Communication and IT in October 2011 India agreed to cooperate with Uzbekistan in setting up a joint venture related to software development and production. Several important Indian private sector IT companies which are global players are looking to benefit from opportunities in Uzbekistan.
The Lal Bahadur Shastri Centre for Indian Culture working under Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) was established in Tashkent in 1995 and has been a household name in Uzbekistan’s cultural circles for its activities. Besides organizing seminar events relating to Indian culture, the Centre also organizes regular classes for Kathak, Yoga and Hindi language.
Tourism is another promising area and there is considerable interest in India to visit Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara in particular. Similarly, people in Uzbekistan have interest in Indian cities like Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Mumbai due to their historical connections as well as due to Bollywood. Uzbek Air operates 15 flights a week between Uzbekistan and India and we hope that there will be a further expansion of flights connecting different cities in both the countries.
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