India-Uzbekistan Cementing Security Cooperation

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The 8th meeting of India-Uzbekistan Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism was held in New Delhi. Senior officials from both countries participated in the meeting. The participants from the two sides examined threats posed by cross border terrorism and terrorist groups active in the respective regions and other parts of the world. They also exchanged views on challenges in countering terrorism, addressing radicalization, combating terror financing, preventing use of internet for terrorist purposes and the ways to deal with returnee foreign terrorist fighters. The officials also discussed the measures for strengthening bilateral cooperation in the field of counter terrorism through information sharing, capacity building and sharing best practices.

In the meeting, cooperation in multilateral platforms, including UN, Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) and the Eurasian Group on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (EAG), was also discussed. India is a full member of SCO since 2017 and its 19th SCO Summit was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, last month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi attending the SCO Summit, had said that the capacity of RATS should be ‘effectively explored’ to eliminate terrorism.

Alongside security cooperation, India and Uzbekistan have increased their political and economic engagements. The two countries have rich civilizational and cultural strands and their contacts go back to millennia. Currently, both sided are working to expand and strengthen their economic cooperation. There have been regular meetings at the highest political levels. Prime Minister Modi visited Uzbekistan in 2015 during his Central Asian visit. President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev has visited India twice since October 2018 to increase cooperation at bilateral and regional levels. He was on a State Visit to India from 30 September to 1 October 2018. He visited again in January 2019 to participant in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit. He attended the event along with a large high powered delegation and met the Indian Prime Minister on the sidelines.

Uzbekistan has a prominent position in Central Asia owing to its demography and geography. The country has 33 million people, highest in the region. Central Asia is landlocked and Uzbekistan is in its’ middle but it is the only country in the region that shares boundaries with all other regional republics and Afghanistan. Uzbekistan is India’s strategic partner and it is important for New Delhi’s relations with Central Asian region. Both India and Uzbekistan consider peace and stability in Afghanistan is significant to the security and stability of the entire region. Uzbekistan also became the first country to host the inaugural India-Central Asia Dialogue held at the level of Foreign Ministers in Samarqand in January this year.

In spite of vibrant political relations and expanding cooperation in various areas, bilateral trade between India and Uzbekistan has been below their potential. In 2018-19 the trade was US$ 328.14 million, as per the Indian Commerce Ministry. However, the positive development is that trade has seen faster growth in last 2-3 years and trade grew by 40 per cent in 2018-19 and 50 per cent in 2017-18 as compared to the previous year. The two countries have set the target of US$ 1 billion bilateral trade by 2020.

India has announced a Line of Credit of US$ 200 million to Uzbekistan and there is vast economic potential between the two countries. Uzbekistan tries to attract investments from India in its Special Economic Zones and in sectors of IT, education, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, agri-business and tourism. Bilateral economic activities are hampered mainly due to lack of direct connectivity to Central Asia through land or sea. Both India and Uzbekistan are trying to connect each other through various multilateral initiatives. India has joined the Ashgabat transit corridor agreement among Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Oman and Iran. It is also investing in Chabahar port of Iran. The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is another multilateral initiative that can ease India’s connectivity with Afghanistan and Central Asia.


Script: Dr. Athar Zafar, Strategic Analyst on Central Asia

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