TASHKENT—Uzbekistan and India are poised to sign a significant joint program aimed at bolstering the implementation of various projects, reflecting a growing economic partnership between the two nations.

According to Trend News Agency, the upcoming agreement was a key focus during a meeting between the Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade of Uzbekistan, Laziz Kudratov, and the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India, Nirmala Sitharaman. The discussions highlighted the current and future potential of trade-economic and investment relationships between the countries. Both parties consented to a series of mutual measures to accelerate the issuance of phytosanitary permits for six additional types of agricultural products cultivated in Uzbekistan. Furthermore, the program aims to facilitate the attraction of soft loans from India’s Eximbank to fund social projects in Uzbekistan.

In addition to agricultural cooperation, the meeting also explored opportunities for major Indian companies to invest in key sectors within Uzbekistan, including information technologies, pharmaceuticals, medicine, light industry, and education. These discussions underscore a concerted effort to deepen collaborative ventures across various industries.

Economic ties between Uzbekistan and India have shown robust growth, with mutual trade volume doubling to $756 million by the end of 2023. Since the onset of the current year, trade has already seen an additional increase of 30 percent. The number of joint ventures has also significantly expanded since 2019, growing nearly 2.5 times to 317 entities, with 51 new enterprises involving Indian capital established in Uzbekistan just since the beginning of the year.