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Indian Envoy: IT, Hydro-carbon are Priority Sectors of Cooperation |
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Monday, 23 March 2009Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan Prof. Dr. Syed Manal Shah Alquadri gave interview to BVV on Indo-Uzbek cooperation, perspectives of relations and his priorities during his mission to Uzbekistan.
- Mr. Ambassador, how do you rate present level of Indo- Uzbek Cooperation?
Ambassador - Uzbekistan has an important place in the foreign policy of India. Both India and Uzbekistan cherish the common values of secularism and democracy. Uzbekistan being in the heart of Central Asia, is a very crucial country to maintain peace, security and stability in the Central Asia. Uzbekistan is also a significant country to confront the menace of global terrorism.
Currently, our relations with Uzbekistan are very friendly, cooperative, strong and warm. The friendly relations are grounded in the commitment towards global peace and stability. India has always placed Uzbekistan in high priority of its foreign policy. This is evident from the visits of our successive prime Ministers since the visit of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1951 and 1961 to Tashkent. We opened our Consulate in Tashkent even before the Independence of Uzbekistan and were one of the very first countries to recognize the independence of Uzbekistan.
The visit of H.E. President Islam Karimov to India in 2005 and visit of H.E. Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh to Uzbekistan in April, 2006 are the testimony to our warm and close political relations. Various agreements were signed during both the visits in the areas of cooperation in defence, education, small & private entrepreneurship, oil and gas, minerals, etc. All the above agreements are being implemented with utmost keenness from both sides.
- Esteemed Mr. Ambassador, you have recently joined the Embassy. In this connection we would like to know: what are your priority tasks as Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan?
Ambassador - Our relations with Uzbekistan are very friendly, co-operative and strong. The friendly relations between India and Uzbekistan are grounded in the commitment towards global peace and regional stability. Both countries are marching on the road towards rapid social and economic development in an environment of increasing globalization and we wish to further strengthen our cultural and historical ties to help forge strong economic and commercial linkages.
The relations between India and Uzbekistan are based on a shared history, close cultural values and a similar way of life. Today's world is guided by socio-economic progress. Every country is judged by its size of GDP and living standard of its people. My priority as Ambassador of India is to translate our centuries old friendly relations into mutually beneficial economic and trade relations. And to further strengthen our ties on the basis of mutual understanding, mutual respect; to fight terrorism and religious fundamentalism; and to work together for regional peace and progress. India has the requisite technology, talented human resource and financial capacity to be a constructive partner of Uzbekistan in its own journey towards prosperity. Our priorities at present are to transform our warm and cordial relations into mutually beneficial multifaceted partnership in the areas of economic-commercial, scientific, IT, education and culture.
- In which spheres of economy Indo-Uzbek cooperation has the biggest prospects?
Ambassador - Our endeavour is to bring the trade, investment and commercial ties between both the countries to the level of sizable business partnership. Our companies can make investment in the areas in which Uzbekistan has raw materials available and export the finished and semi-finished products to India and to third countries. Our priority sectors in Uzbekistan are IT, Automobile, Tourism, Mining, Hydro-carbon, Textiles, Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare and Leather & hides and Fertilizers.
The Information Technology sector of Uzbekistan has a lot of potential and this area can be of cooperation for investment. Indian software and business processing outsourcing firms are the best in the world. From Uzbekistan, Indian companies can cover the entire CIS region by providing IT enabled services, which will generate employment for the local population.
Automobile sector of India is booming and the component suppliers in India are world class and their clientele includes many internationally renowned auto producers. Our effort now is to encourage our companies to establish joint ventures here and supply components to the growing Uzbek automobile sector.
The Medical Tourism is the new area which is rapidly growing in India. Today we have world class modern medical facilities at one tenth of the cost of US or Europe. The most complicated medical services by the best doctors are available in India today which is comparable to the best available services in the world. Being geographically so close India can serve as a good destination for medical treatment of Uzbek nationals at a very reasonable cost.
Uzbekistan is a country of ancient civilization and custodian of many historic and cultural heritage sites which can be promoted as tourist destinations among the Indian tourists. There is a need to generate demand by way of publicity about these unique places. Similarly, India is one of the favorite tourist destinations in the world. Recently, Taj Mahal has been voted as one of the Seven Wonders of the World in an internationally held poll. We expect that the inflow of Uzbek tourists to India to see Taj Mahal will increase in the near future.
- Today cooperation of India and Uzbekistan in ICT sector is successfully developing, how the cooperation in this sector will further develop?
Ambassador - India has emerged as the world leader in the Information Technology. In view of the increasing demand from the Uzbek nationals for IT training in India, Indian government has established the Jawaharlal Nehru India-Uzbekistan Centre for Information Technology (JNIUCIT) at Tashkent, which was inaugurated in April, 2006 during the visit of Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The main goals and objective of JNIUCIT are to create an institution of Software Learning and Development, to facilitate IT knowledge and awareness among Uzbek professional/students, to generate direct and indirect employment through IT and to generate world class IT programmers. School teachers, programmers and IT professionals will the target beneficiaries of the JNIUCIT.
India and Uzbekistan have a joint working group on IT sector to decide the future course of cooperation in the Information technology. The group will soon have its meeting and I believe we will cooperation very successfully in this field which will be mutually beneficial and productive.
- Ambassador is it your first visit to Uzbekistan or you have visited our country earlier also? What are your impressions about our country?
Ambassador - This is my first visit to Uzbekistan and I am very much impressed by the warmth of the friendly people of Uzbekistan, their hospitality and love and affection for India. I have visited Samarkand and Bukhara and I was mesmerized by the beauty of both the cities.
In 17 years of independence the Government and people of Uzbekistan can be proud of their significant achievements. Uzbekistan is now a strong, stable and self reliant country. Under the leadership of President H.E. Mr. Islam Karimov Uzbeks value their independence and the social and economic conditions of the people are steadily improving. What India could learn from Uzbekistan is in the area of education and human resources development. Even in remote areas of Uzbekistan there are well equipped schools and lyceums and all the children of your country are literate. Also I notice excellent sports facilities for the youth and children even in small cities of your country. Your experience of state intervention for the physical and mental development of the youth would be of value to us in India.
I have read the book of President and I am deeply impressed with his vast knowledge, erudite writings and eloquent style. He has mentioned in his book that 4000 buildings, monuments and mosques have been declared the by UNESCO as world heritage. The President H.E. Mr. Islam Karimov took special interest to restore and preserve the national heritage. |
Monday, 23 March 2009
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