📌 Why in News?
Elevation to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership signals that cooperation will no longer remain confined to diplomatic goodwill.
India and Uzbekistan agreed to work towards a US$5-billion bilateral trade target by 2030 and to organise a Business Summit to deepen investment ties. Both sides also agreed to improve e-commerce, digitisation of trade procedures and support for small and medium enterprises.
Syllabus & Relevance
Paper: GS-2
Theme: International Relations
Static Foundation
A particularly important development concerns Digital Public Infrastructure.
An agreement between NPCI International Payments Limited and Uzbekistan's National Interbank Processing Centre will allow Indian UPI applications to scan Uzbekistan's UZQR national QR system for merchant payments.
This is another example of India exporting elements of the India Stack ecosystem.
India also announced a US$1-million grant for afforestation in the Aral Sea region, 100 Lal Bahadur Shastri scholarships for Hindi studies and an ICCR Sanskrit Chair at Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies.
India and Uzbekistan will cooperate in conserving the ancient Buddhist sites of Fayaz Tepa and Kara Tepa at Termez.
Energy security was another major dimension.
India welcomed progress in the long-term supply arrangement for uranium from Uzbekistan and called for stronger cooperation in critical minerals.
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