India, Uzbekistan co-chair first National Coordination Committee meet; discuss trade, investment

India and Uzbekistan on Monday co-chaired the first National Coordination Committee meeting, wherein they held "fruitful" discussions on issues of bilateral interests such as Line of Credit (LoC) projects, trade and investment.

India and Uzbekistan on Monday co-chaired the first National Coordination Committee meeting, wherein they held "fruitful" discussions on issues of bilateral interests such as Line of Credit (LoC) projects, trade and investment. The meeting was co-chaired by Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan and Uzbekistan Deputy Prime Minister Sardor Umurzakov.

"Co-chaired 1st India-Uzbekistan National Coordination Committees meeting with HE Sardor Umurzakov. Fruitful discussion on LoC projects, bilateral trade and investment. Confident that committees' work will further deepen India-Uzbekistan strategic relations," Muraleedharan said in a tweet. India and Uzbekistan have a modest bilateral trade turnover of over USD 300 million. Pharmaceuticals is a major area of both trade and investment by India. Medical tourism to India has increased sharply in the recent past.

Notable Indian investments in Uzbekistan have been made by Indian companies in the fields of pharmaceuticals, amusement parks, automobile components and hospitality industry. A Joint Centre for Information Technology was set up in 2006 and upgraded in 2014. An IT Park in Tashkent, established with Indian assistance, was inaugurated in July last year. (ANI)