Text of Prime Minister's statement to the media during his visit to Australia

Your Excellency, My Friend, Mister President,
Delegates from both countries,
Friends from the media,
Namaskar !

I sincerely thank the President and the people of Uzbekistan for the warm and affectionate welcome extended to me and my delegation in Tashkent.

This is my fourth visit to Uzbekistan. It reflects the closeness of our relations, our close coordination, and our deep friendship.

For nearly a decade, I have had the privilege of working with the President. During this period, I have had the opportunity to meet him more than ten times.

His positive and forward-looking approach, along with his spirit of continuous learning, is truly inspiring. I sincerely commend him for his deep friendship towards India and his unwavering commitment to our relationship.

Friends,

Uzbekistan is at the heart of Central Asia, and at the heart of India’s engagement with the region. India and Uzbekistan share a deep convergence of perspectives and aspirations. At the heart of both “Yangi Uzbekistan” and “Viksit Bharat 2047” are our youth, innovation, inclusive growth, and modern technology. Guided by this shared vision, we are working for the well-being and prosperity of the people of both countries.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of our Strategic Partnership. On this special occasion, we have decided to elevate our relationship to the level of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Today, we have charted an ambitious agenda to take our partnership forward in this new framework with greater momentum and concrete outcomes.

Our bilateral trade has crossed one billion dollars. We have now set a target of five billion dollars in bilateral trade by 2030. To achieve this, we will systematically address issues related to market access, connectivity, banking, and payment systems.

We will work together to enhance win-win cooperation in infrastructure development. Cooperation in Digital Public Infrastructure, Artificial Intelligence, critical minerals, clean energy, space, and nuclear energy is making our relationship future-ready.

Friends,

Our strengths in agriculture and healthcare are complementary to each other. By combining Uzbekistan’s expertise in horticulture with India’s modern agricultural practices, we will contribute to the food security of both countries.

Uzbekistan’s medicinal herbs and India’s expertise in Ayurveda are also a natural combination. The agreement reached today on Traditional Medicine will give further impetus to our joint efforts in this area.

Our endeavour is to ensure that our partnership is not confined to our two capitals. Therefore, we are working towards establishing partnerships between our cities and states. These partnerships will help foster sustained direct linkages in areas such as urban management, industry, education, tourism, and culture.

The close defence and security cooperation between our two countries reflects the deep mutual trust that underpins our relationship. Going forward, we will promote direct linkages, co-production, and co-development between the defence industries of our two countries.

We believe that terrorism, extremism, and separatism pose serious challenges to the entire region.

Our shared resolve to adopt a policy of zero tolerance towards them has been, and will continue to be, unwavering.

Friends,

The deepest roots of our relationship lie in our shared heritage. Today, we placed special emphasis on further strengthening these bonds.

We will work together for the preservation of Uzbekistan’s Buddhist heritage sites. Promoting exchanges between the youth of our two countries, particularly students and professionals, is a high priority for us. Today, we agreed on a Programme of Cooperation to promote tourism between the two countries. I am pleased that today we are going to announce scholarships to promote the Hindi language in Uzbekistan.

Sports is also emerging as an important dimension of our cooperation. Last year, the 20-year-old Uzbek Grandmaster Sindarov won the FIDE World Cup in Goa. He is now set to face India’s 20-year-old chess champion, Gukesh, in November. When these two young stars meet across the chessboard, the entire world will be watching this exciting contest. I also extend my very best wishes for the Chess Olympiad to be held in Samarkand next month. In the times ahead, traditional sports such as Kurash and Kabaddi will also bring renewed energy to our sporting partnership.

Today’s discussions have charted a clear course for the future of our relations. A stronger India-Uzbekistan partnership will be a powerful force for peace, progress and prosperity in Central Asia.

Excellency,

Once again, I thank you very much for your friendship and for the fruitful discussions we had today.

In two days, Uzbekistan will celebrate the 35th anniversary of its Independence. On behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India, I extend my warmest congratulations and best wishes to you and all the citizens of Uzbekistan on this occasion.

Thank you very much.