NEW DELHI, August 8. /Dunyo IA/. The authoritative Indian publication “The Economic Times” has published an article on the development of trade, economic and investment cooperation with Uzbekistan, reports Dunyo IA correspondent.

The article notes that ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Tashkent, a business forum was held in New Delhi, where Uzbek representatives called on Indian investors to take a more active role in projects in the mining and metallurgical sectors, as well as in the processing of gold, copper, uranium and rare earth metals.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Bakhtiyor Saidov and Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade Laziz Kudratov met with Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal. During the talks, the sides discussed plans to increase bilateral trade to USD 2 billion in the near term and to USD 3–5 billion in the longer term.

The article also emphasizes that Uzbekistan ranks among the world’s top ten countries in terms of reserves of gold, copper and uranium. Currently, around 400 enterprises with Indian capital operate in Uzbekistan, while the overall portfolio of joint projects exceeds $5 billion.

According to The Economic Times, in addition to mining, priority areas for bilateral cooperation include the chemical industry, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals and automotive manufacturing.

In particular, promising projects include expanding mineral fertilizer production in Uzbekistan, increasing the share of green energy to 54 percent by 2030, establishing pharmaceutical and vaccine production in cooperation with leading Indian companies such as Dr. Reddy’s and Cipla, and localizing the production of automotive components.