On February 25, the Indian Embassy hosted an Annual Press Meet of the Embassy at the Tashkent’s Hyatt Regency Hotel.
In her opening remarks the India’s Ambassador H.E. Ms Smita Pant highlighted that the event had become one of important events which provides an opportunity to engage and interact with the vibrant media community in Tashkent.
The Ambassador Smita Pant underscored the frequent meetings between the leaders of the two countries and the holding in India of the 4th India-Central Asia Ministerial Dialogue in June 2025.
She mentioned the ever-growing defense and security cooperation between the two countries, notably the holding of 5th Joint Working Group meeting on Defence in India in April 2025, the sixth edition of the flagship military exercise ‘Dustlik’ in April 2025 in India and the meeting on Counter Terrorism in Tashkent in September.
India ranks among Uzbekistan’s top‑10 trading partners (9th rank), and bilateral trade has surged from roughly $500 million to about $1.3 billion in five years, after crossing the $1 billion mark earlier in the year. Even with this three‑fold increase, the volume remains well below the untapped potential/opportunities in pharmaceuticals, machinery, agriculture, Mining and connectivity projects etc. In September 2025, Iran, India, and Uzbekistan also held trilateral political consultations in Tehran, focusing on enhancing connectivity and the International North-South Transport Corridor. Number of Indian enterprises with Indian capital have also increase to 375 (ranking 9th) as of January 01, 2026.
Indian investment in Uzbekistan in 2025 has increased by 135% to reach USD 332 million. The total investment has crossed USD 717 million. I think we will cross the USD 1 billion mark.
Last year, more than 200 Indian business delegates visited Uzbekistan and participated at Trade fairs in Uzbekistan including Textile Expo Autumn (CAITME 2025), UzFood, Agro-world, Mining Metals, Textile Expo Spring, PPP forum, Tashkent International Investment Forum, Beauty Uzbekistan/BeautyDerma, OGU, TransLogistics.
The 3rd Meeting of the India–Uzbekistan Joint Working Group on Digital Technologies was held in November 2025, where both sides discussed strengthening cooperation in information technology and advancing digital solutions in education, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The two countries will also co-host the inaugural meeting of the India–Central Asia Digital Partnership Forum.
India also organized AI Impact Summit in February 2026 in New Delhi. We were pleased to have a 10-member delegation headed by Bobur Khodjaev, Head of the Department for Financial Technologies, Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence of the Administration of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan participate in the Summit.
In last five years, 1144 candidates have participated in the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. Over 40% of selected participants in the past two years have been women, undertaking training across diverse fields such as artificial intelligence, information technology, data science, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals among others.
In 2025, Uzbekistan welcomed the largest number of students from India, with over 16,000 students pursuing higher education.
At present, a total of 17 weekly flights operate from Tashkent to Delhi, Mumbai, and Goa, by Indigo, Uzairways and Centrum Air significantly enhancing connectivity between the two countries. Direct flights to Hyderabad and between Namangan – Delhi Sector are also expected to commence from April 2026.
