Sardor M. Rustambaev, Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan to India, was in Hyderabad as part of the efforts to galvanise Indian pharma companies to come to consider Uzbekistan for their plans. In an interaction with B.Krishna Mohan, he stressed the importance of strengthening ties between India and Uzbekistan.
Excerpts:
Key objective
One of the main aims of our visit is to explore opportunities in the pharma industry. We are meeting representatives of pharma companies in Hyderabad. We want to explore mutual possibilities in this sector.
Other areas
We don't want to limit ourselves to only pharma. We would be happy to talk to other companies as well. There are many other possibilities. We can cooperate in the IT sector, education, medicine, industrial production, energy and tourism.
Focus on start-ups
We have special focus on the start-up segment. We have many governmental initiatives to develop start-ups in the same fashion as India. We would invest a lot into promoting start-ups, because they are the backbone of any economy. In Uzbekistan, IT, pharma are booming. So, start-ups are an important tool to promote.
Education
A lot of education facilities are available for people who are willing to come there. We have one of the best universities. The costs vary from university to university, but we have ample opportunities in Uzbekistan. Many players cooperate with our local universities to promote Uzbekistan as an educational hub.
TourismWe are only a few hours away from India. It is easy to obtain a visa. So, there are no obstacles for Indian tourists to come to Uzbekistan. There is a visa you can apply online and there is a physical visa as well. It is easy to obtain that. We are strongly encouraging Indian tourists to come to visit our country.
Bilateral trade
The bilateral trade is about $ 800 million. This does not correspond to the potential existing between the two countries. So, in the next year, we want to increase it to $1 billion. We hope this figure can go up even further. There are also possibilities of companies getting stronger setting up operations in India. India is one of the biggest markets, very prospective. So they would look to be here in India.
