PM Modi in Tashkent: India, Uzbekistan agree to strengthen trade, defence and energy ties
Delegation-level talks in Tashkent between the Indian Prime Minister and the Uzbek President resulted in a stated commitment to strengthen trade, defence, and energy ties
Discussions focused on shared development priorities, positioned around India's "Viksit Bharat" vision and Uzbekistan's "Yangi Uzbekistan" (New Uzbekistan) reform agenda
Cultural engagement, including a joint yoga session, featured alongside the bilateral talks
The Tashkent leg preceded onward travel to Kyrgyzstan for the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit
India-Uzbekistan Defence Cooperation: Exercise Dustlik
Exercise Dustlik ("Friendship" in Uzbek) is the annual bilateral military exercise between the Indian Army and the Uzbekistan Armed Forces, alternating venues between the two countries. It is the principal recurring defence-cooperation mechanism between the two militaries, distinct from one-off procurement or training agreements.
Key Details
- The exercise has run annually (with occasional gaps), focused on joint counter-terrorism drills in semi-mountainous and urban terrain
- Recent editions: the 5th edition (April 2024) was held at Termez, Uzbekistan; the 6th edition (April 2025) at the Foreign Training Node, Aundh (Pune), India; the 7th edition (2026) at Gurumsaray Field Training Area, Namangan, Uzbekistan
- The exercise sits within India's broader "Act Central Asia" defence-diplomacy push, alongside bilateral military exercises India runs with other Central Asian and SCO-member states
- Defence cooperation with Uzbekistan also covers areas discussed in Tashkent such as defence industry collaboration and training exchanges, distinct from the separate 17 agreements signed during the visit
Strengthened "defence ties" announced in Tashkent build on this pre-existing exercise-based cooperation track, providing an institutional channel (successive Dustlik editions) through which enhanced defence commitments are typically operationalised.
Connect Central Asia Policy and the India-Central Asia Summit Framework
India's institutional engagement with Central Asia rests on a policy framework built up since 2012, culminating in leader-level summitry that Uzbekistan participates in alongside four other Central Asian republics.
Key Details
- The "Connect Central Asia" policy was launched in 2012, aiming to deepen political, economic, security, and cultural ties with the five Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan)
- The first (and so far only) India-Central Asia Summit was held virtually on 27 January 2022, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and the Central Asian states; it proposed a "Central Asia Centre" in New Delhi and Joint Working Groups on Afghanistan and the Chabahar port project
- Bilateral summit-level exchanges (of the kind seen in Tashkent) supplement, rather than replace, this five-nation summit format
- Landlocked Central Asian states, including Uzbekistan, depend on transit corridors through Iran (via Chabahar port) and Russia for trade access to India, since no direct land route exists
The trade and connectivity commitments made in Tashkent operate within this pre-existing "Connect Central Asia" institutional architecture, and gain added relevance because Uzbekistan — like other Central Asian states — relies on third-country transit corridors to trade with India.
Energy Cooperation and Uranium Supply
Energy featured explicitly among the areas of strengthened cooperation, reflecting Uzbekistan's role as a uranium supplier to India's expanding civil nuclear programme, alongside potential cooperation in renewable and hydrocarbon sectors.
Key Details
- Uzbekistan ranks among the world's top uranium-producing nations and has an existing long-term uranium supply relationship with India that was due for renewal around 2026
- India's uranium imports currently come from Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Canada, supplementing limited domestic reserves concentrated in Jharkhand's Singhbhum belt
- Central Asia's broader hydrocarbon and rare-earth resource base (Kazakhstan's oil and uranium, Uzbekistan's natural gas) makes the region strategically relevant to India's energy-security diversification beyond the Gulf and Russia
The "energy ties" language in the Tashkent outcomes covers this uranium-supply relationship, positioning Central Asia as a supplementary node in India's nuclear fuel-security strategy.
- Exercise Dustlik: annual India-Uzbekistan military exercise; 7th edition held in 2026 at Namangan, Uzbekistan
- Connect Central Asia policy: launched 2012
- First India-Central Asia Summit: 27 January 2022 (virtual), marking 30 years of diplomatic ties
- India-Uzbekistan diplomatic relations established: 1992
- Uzbekistan is one of five Central Asian republics without direct land access to India, relying on transit routes via Iran's Chabahar port or Russia
- 26th SCO Summit: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, following the Tashkent leg of the visit