Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal meets Uzbekistan's Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade Laziz Kudratov.
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India and Uzbekistan have set ambitious targets to sharply expand bilateral trade and investment, with New Delhi proposing to double two-way trade over the next three years, from about $1.3 billion at present, while Tashkent said it hoped to raise the figure to $2 billion by next year.At a business forum meeting on Monday, the two countries identified mining, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, information technology, food processing and the digital economy as priority sectors for deeper collaboration. Uzbekistan also pitched opportunities in metallurgy, chemicals, energy, automobiles and digital infrastructure.Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the recently signed bilateral investment treaty would boost investor confidence. “The recent bilateral investment treaty between India and Uzbekistan generates greater investor confidence. Areas to build strong collaboration between the two countries include mining, textiles, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, agriculture and food processing along with IT and digital economy,” the Minister said. The event was organised by industry chamber FICCI in partnership with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade.A potential free trade agreement between India and Uzbekistan is a promising idea and could be explored, Goyal said. India is already exploring a potential FTA with the EAEU bloc comprising Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.Uzbekistan’s Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade, Laziz Kudratov, said bilateral trade had grown by about 30 per cent last year to reach $1.3 billion for the first time. He expressed hope that it would touch $2 billion next year before rising to $3-5 billion in the coming years.Kudratov said Uzbekistan offered significant potential in mining and metallurgy, chemicals, energy, digital infrastructure, automobiles and pharmaceuticals. He said the two countries were also working to improve market access, streamline procedures and reduce administrative barriers, besides negotiating new trade facilitation agreements and memorandums to create more favourable conditions for exporters and importers.Trade barriersCalling for the removal of trade barriers, Goyal said the two sides should work towards greater mutual recognition of standards, approvals, testing and certification processes. “Let us work together, in good faith, to double the trade between the two economies in the next three years. Let us remove the trade barriers, create more mutual recognition of standards, approval processes, testing and certification processes so that we can build bridges of trust between India and Uzbekistan,” he said.Goyal added that India and Uzbekistan had complementary strength and did not compete with each other. “We hardly compete in any area. So together we can look at capturing world markets,” he said.Kudratov said Uzbekistan remained open to foreign businesses, noting that the number of foreign companies operating in the country had increased five-fold and foreign direct investment had grown ten-fold since 2017Published on August 3, 2026
