Why Uzbekistan Important For India In Security Cooperation – Free PDF Download

DETAILS

A BRIEF TIMELINE

• Uzbekistan declared its independence on 1 September 1991.The Consulate General of India  in Tashkent had been opened on 7 April 1987. It was upgraded to an Embassy on 18 March  1992.
• Timeline of State Visits:

1. P.V. Narasimha Rao became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit  Uzbekistan on 23–25 May 1993.
2. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the country on 25–26  April 2006
3. Uzbek President Islam Karimov has visited India several times; in  1991, 1994, 2000, 2005 and in May 2011.
4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Uzbekistan in July 2015.
5. Karimov’s successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited New Delhi in  Autumn 2018 and January 2019.

TRADE

• Bilateral trade between India and Uzbekistan  stood at US$235 million in 2017-18.

LARGER INTEREST OF INDIA

• Urainium

STRATEGIC URANIUM  RESERVE

• New Delhi has been working on securing a stockpile of  nuclear fuel for its strategic uranium reserve to sustain  the nuclear reactors for the next five years so that the  reactors would not stop functioning for want of fuel as  had happened after the Pokhran II nuclear tests.
• The US and other nations had imposed economic and  technology sanctions on New Delhi following both the  Pokhran nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998.

UZBEKISTAN’S STRATEGIC LOCATION

• Uzbekistan shares its land border  with its five neighbouring countries:  Tajikistan, Afghanistan,Turkmenistan,  Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

STRONGHOLD IN CENTRAL  ASIA

• India, seeking to expand its strategic presence  in Central Asia, is hoping to expand its military  base in Tajikistan — its only such facility  abroad — where Indian Air Force and Border  Roads Organisation personnel have been  stationed since 2005.

FARKHOR  AIR BASE

• Farkhor Air Base is a military air base located  near the town of Farkhor in Tajikistan, 130  kilometres (81 mi) southeast of the capital  Dushanbe.
• It is operated by the Indian Air Force in  collaboration with the Tajik Air Force. Farkhor  is India’s first military base outside its territory.

OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIA

• China is Uzbekistan’s largest foreign  investor and Russia is concerned that  China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Asian  Infrastructure Investment Bank will boost  Chinese influence in Central Asia, which  Russia considers in its “near abroad” or zone of “privileged interest.”

CHINA’S ATTEMPT TO GAIN INFLUENCE IN CENTRAL  ASIA  FROM 2013

UZBEKISTAN AND CHINA

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