Equally important are Central Asia’s pluralist and inclusive traditions and goodwill for India since the Soviet Union period. This has built foundations for India’s counter-terror and deradicalisation partnership with the region. The region is sitting on resources that can fuel India’s growth story for decades.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s forthcoming visit to Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan (SCO Summit) is expected to further cement the strategic partnership with the region.   

India-Uzbekistan Partnership

Uzbekistan shares a special bond with India, and there exists a natural goodwill between Delhi and Tashkent since the Soviet Union period. While several ex-Soviet Union Republics have special ties with India, building on Delhi-Moscow bonhomie since the Soviet period, Uzbekistan is special in many ways, as Tashkent once housed India’s Consulate for the region before 1991. Ties have flourished since Uzbekistan became independent, with Tashkent emerging as a tourist destination for India’s growing middle class. Not only that, it is among the few states to supply uranium to India.

Today, India’s ties with Uzbekistan cover all sectors, from defence to development partnership to investment to education to health tourism.

Kazakhstan is another Central Asian state that supplies uranium to India. 

Defence Cooperation

India has longstanding and wide-ranging cooperation with Uzbekistan in the field of defence. A Joint Working Group on defence was established in 2019. India and Uzbekistan regularly participate in joint military exercises, “DUSTLIK”.

The seventh edition of exercise DUSTLIK was conducted in Uzbekistan in April 2026. There has been considerable interaction between the defence industries of both nations, with recent participation of a delegation from the Defence Industry Agency of Uzbekistan at Aero India 2025.

Uzbekistan and India enjoy a strong counter-terror partnership. The Joint Working Group meeting on Counter Terrorism is regularly held. The Central Asian region is wary of the growing presence of ISIS in the Af-Pak region and the return of Islamists from Syria, besides activities of extremist groups. This provides context to widen India’s counter-terror partnership with the states in the region. It may be noted here that Uzbekistan, like all other Central Asian states, has traditionally refused to endorse Pakistan’s narrative on Jammu and Kashmir.  

Besides Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, as a partner country in BRICS, is giving further opportunity for both sides to ramp up partnership in the context of the Global South. 

Trade Ties

Uzbekistan holds over 30 types of critical minerals and rare earth elements, including copper, tungsten, and lithium. India is yet to tap into these resources.  

India is among the top 10 trade partners of Uzbekistan, with bilateral trade of US$1.32 billion, which is well below potential.  

The major items of India’s exports are pharmaceutical products, mechanical equipment, vehicle parts, services, frozen buffalo meat, optical instruments and equipment, and mobile phones.  

India’s imports from Uzbekistan consist largely of fruit and vegetable products, services, fertilizers, juice products and extracts, and lubricants. Indian investments in Uzbekistan amount to about US$451 million. Indian investments by Indian companies include pharmaceuticals, healthcare, education, and residential building.

Currently, around 400 Indian companies operate in Uzbekistan, with a joint project portfolio exceeding US$5 billion. Chemicals, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and the automotive sector are key areas for expanding India-Uzbekistan economic cooperation.

The two countries signed a Bilateral Market Access Protocol in the context of Uzbekistan’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in May 2026.

The education sector is a big success story in the bilateral partnership. Apart from Indian students who are studying medicine in Uzbekistan's institutes, there are four Indian Universities in Uzbekistan: Amity University in Tashkent, Sharda University in Andijan, Sambhram University in Jizzakh, and Acharya University in Bukhara.

Development Partnership Projects

Pursuant to the bilateral agreement between the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Digital Technologies of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2018, the IT Policy of Uzbekistan was redrafted. With the support of the Software Technology Parks of India, Uzbekistan’s first IT Park was established in Tashkent in June 2019. This is a lesser-known fact.

The Indian government has also carried out several projects, including setting up an Allergological Center in Tashkent, an IT lab at the Academy of Armed Forces of Uzbekistan, and provisioning of computers for 125 ICT centers in schools in Syrdarya region. The Indian government also plans to continue development partnership projects in Karakalpakstan in healthcare and Solar Power projects to support agriculture in the Kashkadarya region of Uzbekistan.

Even as US sanctions restrict full utilisation of the Indian terminal at the Chabahar Port, Uzbekistan, along with Kazakhstan, has been keen to use the port for its outreach to the Indian Ocean Region and Indian markets. 

The time is ripe to build on the goodwill between India and Central Asia for an inclusive Eurasia.

(The writer is a commentator on geopolitics and geoeconomics. Views expressed are personal.)