Uzbekistan – India:
NEW LEVEL OF CULTURAL-HUMANITARIAN RELATIONSHIPS
Long-standing friendship ties between Uzbek and Indian people have started to gain new meaning in recent years. All areas of mutual beneficial cooperation, including cultural-humanitarian field are facing consistent development.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Mr. Furkat Siddiqov has given interview to the correspondent of “Dunyo” news agency on the current state and prospects of cultural-humanitarian relationship.
- After gaining our independence we witnessed the new era of our cooperation with India. India is one of the first States that recognized our sovereignty.
Multilateral relationship between the two countries, especially in the last 4 years, is having a rapid growth. In this, the outcome of visits of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Mr. Shavkat Mirziyoyev to India in 2018 and in 2019, and constructive and sincere communication between the two leaders play a big role.
During the visit of our President in India in 2018, he emphasized on historical ties, similar traditions, spiritual and cultural closeness between our nations.
The leader of our country noted India’s rapid growth, modernization, and the fact that India is strengthening its position in the world as a powerful country with leading economy.
“We highly rate Uzbek-Indian relationship which is becoming more active as the result of high-level meetings” said President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
In his speech at the Vibrant Gujarat International Summit in India in January 2019, the President of Uzbekistan highlighted the strengthening of long-term strategic partnership with India as one of the priorities of Uzbekistan's foreign policy and put forward a number of initiatives, including cultural and humanitarian exchanges.
- Furkat Ahmedovich, Cooperation in the field of education and science is an important part of cultural and humanitarian relations. We know that India has great potential in this area……
- You are right, India is one of the world's leading countries in the field of science, education, information technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals.
Cooperation with India in the field of higher education is carried out on the basis of the exchange program for cooperation in the field of higher education, adopted on April 5, 2005.
To date, more than 40 documents have been signed on cooperation between universities of the two countries, memorandums and agreements in various fields of education have been signed with about 50 Indian universities by 22 universities of the republic. Jawaharlal Nehru University is among the partner universities. There are Delhi University, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Manipal University, Gujarat, Chandigarh Universities, Mirza Ghalib Institute, Indian Institute of Technology, Finance and other educational institutions.
Uzbekistan has long been a country that trains leading Ideologist scientists. The systematic teaching of Hindi in our country, including in higher education, was introduced almost half a century ago. In particular, the Tashkent State University of Oriental Studies has an Indian Research Center named after Indira Gandhi.
In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated April 13, 2019 on the establishment of Sharda University in Uzbekistan, the university began its activities in Andijan.
Samarkand Institute of Economics and Service introduces joint educational program with Indian International Institute of Hotel Management
Recently, an India Room was established at Termez State University. The opening ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of India in Tashkent Manish Prabhat.
In turn, Uzbek language courses have been organized at the Jamiya National Islamic University in Delhi. Bukhara State Medical Institute named after Abu Ali Ibn Sino signed a memorandum on the establishment of its branch on the basis of Noida International University. Thus, the institute became the first higher educational institute in Uzbekistan to open a branch abroad. It is noteworthy that the interest of young people in higher education in the two countries is almost the same. For example, in the 2019-2020 academic year, more than 70 Indian students studied in Uzbekistan, and more than 50 Uzbek students studied in India.
Both sides have a number of practical suggestions for further development of cooperation in the field of education, including the development of joint educational programs, further expansion of cooperation in the field of information technology management and pharmacology in the field of technology and medicine, an increase in the number of scholarships provided by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme for Uzbek nationals for advanced training and research is on the agenda.
- We would like you to focus on information technology and innovation.
- I don't think there is any need to describe India's potential in these areas because we all know that. I would like to emphasize that cooperation in this area has reached a new level in recent years.
As you know, the Uzbek Center for Information Technology at Tashkent University of Information Technologies was one of the first projects in this area. During the years of the center's activity, more than 30,000 specialists have mastered programming languages and learned how to use modern acts. At present, in cooperation with the Center for Development of Advanced Computing, India, the issue of further improvement of this educational institution at TUIT is being studied. The Tashkent Software and Information Technology Park (IT Park) was established in cooperation with the Software Technology Society under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India.
The Indian experience in developing this area and supporting software developers is currently being studied and introduced. Despite the fact that the IT-park has been operating for more than a year, the number of residents has approached 400, and branches are being established in the regions. In accordance with the decision of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the establishment of Amity University in Tashkent on January 7, 2019, Amity University began training in Tashkent in the field of information and communication technologies, including software and artificial intelligence, information technology marketing. The quality of education is also evidenced by the fact that about twenty highly qualified Indian specialists teach here.
Innovation projects are also being implemented. For example, in the new building of the Ministry of Innovative Development in cooperation with the Indian company Routern.com introduced a mechanism of "Aqlli Bino" (Smart Building)". Training on innovative technologies based on artificial intelligence is being held at the Center for Advanced Technologies under the Ministry.
Within the framework of the cooperation program in the field of science, technology and innovation for 2020-2022, scientific projects are being implemented with specialists in the field of agriculture, food, ICT, health and medical sector, materials science, natural sciences, biotechnology and many other areas.
It is noteworthy that the scope of cooperation extends to the regions of our country. For example, Shavkat Mirziyoyev farm in Samarkand's Pakhtachi district and Nath Bio-Genes in India have agreed to grow elite seeds of cotton, corn and vegetables. Paragon Irrigation Pvt. Ltd plans to launch production of drip irrigation equipment in the Yrgut Free Economic Zone.
- Furkat Akhmedovich, Can you tell us about the current state and prospects of cultural and educational cooperation between Uzbekistan and India?
- The age-old cultural and educational ties between our peoples are developing steadily.
In the spring and autumn of 2018, the Days of Uzbek Culture and the Uzbek Film Festival were held in Calcutta and Mumbai and it was greeted with great interest by the local people.
Our artists regularly take part in festivals, conferences and other events in Uzbekistan and India.
Mr. Anil Shastri, Chairman of the India-Uzbekistan Friendship Society, and Ms. Divya Bhatia, Festival Director, Jodhpur RIFF Festival, at the 2019 Oriental Song International Music Festival in Samarkand. Ms. Parul Patel, a musicologist, participated in the international scientific conference.
In turn, the creative team of the Palace of Culture of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan presented our national art at the Delhi International Festival.
The authoritative delegation of our country was a guest of the festival of arts, culture and handicrafts "Surajkund International Crafts Mela" in Haryana.
The art of cinema has a special place in the cultural ties between our peoples. The scope of recent practical results in this area is expanding, and representatives of the two countries are jointly preparing projects for the production of feature films and serials. The Uzbek National Cinema Agency has signed a memorandum with the Indian company “Wingspan group’’ to make the Bobur series film in Uzbekistan.
An agreement has been reached to train young Uzbek filmmakers in India as part of the “ITEC” program.
The Lal Bahadur Shastri Indian Cultural Center, which has been operating in Tashkent since 1995, has a special role to play in strengthening bilateral ties.
The center annually provides scholarships to Uzbek students to study technical and humanitarian specialties at leading educational institutions in India. Language courses are organized here and dance, music, yoga, performance on Indian musical instruments are also taught. Classes are taught by Indian and Uzbek teachers.
An exhibition of paintings by Chairman of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan Mr. Akmal Nur on the theme of India was held in Tashkent on 26 October this year on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the cultural center.
- Of course, if we do not talk about cooperation in the field of tourism, the impression of cultural and humanitarian ties will not be complete.
- I agree with you, because in recent years, significant progress has been made in this direction.
The fact that in 2019 our country received almost twice as many tourists from India as in 2015 is another proof of our opinion. Indian companies are active participants in Tashkent International Tourism exhibition "Tourism on the Silk Road".
The First Investment Forum on Tourism in Tashkent in 2019 was attended by a large group of representatives of the Indian media, who prepared a series of reports and videos on the tourism and investment potential of Uzbekistan. The International Forum on Pilgrimage Tourism, which will be held in Bukhara, has become a convenient platform for entrepreneurs of our countries to communicate effectively and reach mutually beneficial agreements.
Renowned Indian fashion designer, founder of a personal brand Ritu Beri was appointed Ambassador of Tourism and Culture of our country to India last year. In order for our compatriots to have a fuller picture of this woman, I would like to say that in India she is called the “Queen of Fashion” and the “First Woman of Indian Fashion”. Ritu Beri is a fan of Uzbek culture and history. The designer visited Uzbekistan in September last year. He noted that the cultural proximity of our country to India is an important factor in further strengthening relations, and expressed confidence that Uzbekistan will become one of the most popular tourist destinations for Indian families.
A number of projects are being implemented among the population of India to demonstrate the tourism potential of Uzbekistan and attract them to our country. Our embassy in this country, together with the State Committee for Tourism Development, actively participates in exhibitions and festivals in India. There are colorful presentations about the opportunities of our country, our historical cities.
In particular, a large pavilion was set up within the framework of the above-mentioned “Vibrant Gujarat” forum to provide information about the opportunities of our country. Exhibits depicting Uzbek art, culture, national cuisine and historical monuments were presented there. Representatives of our country took an active part in more than a dozen tourism fairs held in India last year.
In general, we believe that the Uzbek-Indian relations, built on openness, mutual understanding and respect for interests, will continue to strengthen.
“During his state visit to India in autumn 2018, the President emphasized that our peoples are bound by historical ties, similar traditions, spiritual and cultural closeness. The head of our state noted that today India is developing rapidly, gaining a modern look, and its power and position in the world as a developed country is strengthening.
We appreciate the current pace of Uzbek-Indian relations, which is becoming more active as a result of our high-level meetings”, said President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
“ Dunya” NA