Q.India and Uzbekistan marked 30 years of Diplomatic Ties. How has the Embassy celebrated this landmark occasion?
Ans. In March 1992, India and Uzbekistan had established diplomatic relations. India was one of the first countries in the world to have accorded diplomatic relations to the newly independent Uzbekistan. We are currently celebrating the 30th anniversary of that great event in our bilateral history. Looking back to three decades, it has been a matter of great pride what we achieved together – close relationship of friendship, goodwill and cooperation; cooperation in the international arena on multiple platforms; sharing our perceptions and resolve to act together against challenges of our region such as development, economic growth, terrorism and extremism; climate change. There is so much more we can accomplish together in future by our joint work. The spirit of this cooperation was affirmed by exchange of congratulatory letters on this occasion in March 2022 between then President of India H.E. Shri Ram Nath Kovind and President of Uzbekistan H.E. Mr. Shavkat Mirziyoyev and External Affairs Minister H.E. Dr. S. Jaishankar and then Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan H.E. Mr. Abdulaziz kamilov. Throughout the year, our Embassy organized many programmes to commemorate this occasion. On 1 November, at the Turkestan Hall in Tashkent, the Embassy organized a memorable Indian cultural evening of classical and folk dances by the artists of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Cultural Centre in Tashkent which is one of the overseas centre of the Indian Council for Cultural relations. Kazakh artists from the Indian Classical Dances & Yoga Centre from Almaty and the local Uzbek Bollywood singing sensation Havas Guruhi group also performed. A gala concert ‘Dil Hai Hindustani’ was presented by Havas Guruhi in Tashkent’s iconic People’s Friendship Theatre on 21 December dedicated to popular Indian movie songs. A packed hall of 4000 audience enjoyed and danced to Bollywood superhits. We are publishing books dedicated to this occasion. Prof. Chander Shekhar, ex-Director of the Centre and a scholar of Persian from Delhi University wrote a book ‘Indian Cultural Imprints in Uzbekistan’ which was published this year by the Embassy. The book is based on his original research in the archives of Uzbekistan. The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India supported a project of translation of the Constitution of India in Uzbek language. A team from the Tashkent State Law University has worked on the project. The book is going to be published later this month. We are also planning an India-Uzbekistan Friendship Run in March as a closing ceremony of the year-long celebrations. No doubt, these celebrations have raised awareness about the vitality of India-Uzbekistan relations among youth, academia, think tanks, media and common people of Uzbekistan.
Q.In January 2022, at the initiative of Prime Minister Shri Narender Modi, the first India-Central Asia Summit was held virtually, can you shad some light on this meeting?
Ans. The First India – Central Asia Summit was held on 27 January 2022 and became a historic landmark in the ever-strengthening relations between India and the Central Asian states. But for the reasons of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Summit had been planned to held in physical format but had to be conducted online. The close relationship between India and all the five Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan was brought into focus by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s back-to-back visit to all the five countries in July 2015. It was appreciated by all the leaders that time has come for India and Central Asia to work together to take a region-wide view of contemporary challenges and evolve common approaches to tackle them. Thus the India – Central Asia Dialogue was initiated at the level of Foreign Ministers. India and Uzbekistan took the lead initiative in organizing this and the Dialogue took place in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in January 2019. Since then two more rounds of the Dialogue at the level of Foreign Ministers were held and it was decided to hold the First Summit at the level of leaders. This Summit was hosted by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi virtually. The Summit came out with a forward looking agenda to create a permanent secretariat of the India-Central Asia Summit in New Delhi, hold the Summit every two years and initiated regular dialogue on the tracks of Foreign Ministers, Trade Ministers, Culture Ministers and National Security Advisers. It was decided to hold regular programmes of training for Central Asian diplomats in India, holding youth gatherings, promote trade and energy cooperation, connectivity, defence and security cooperation promoting mutually beneficial synergies. It signals that India and the Central Asian states at the highest level are ready to promote their relationship in priority directions and this platform will play an important role in this endeavour. It also signals to the world the positive contribution to energize regional cooperation by India and the Central Asian states.
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