India and Uzbekistan forge strategic partnership with uranium supply deal and $5 bn trade goal

During talks in Tashkent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev raised India-Uzbekistan relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership and pledged to reach $5 billion in trade each year. The agreement includes a long-term uranium supply arrangement, positioning Uzbekistan as a major regional exporter for India's nuclear needs. Both sides established a foreign-minister-level coordination council to steer cooperation across defence, security, trade, critical minerals, AI, agriculture and health, and they signed 11 MoUs covering areas such as culture, education, mining, Ayurveda, tourism and Buddhist site restoration.

Defence collaboration will feature regular exchanges, capacity-building and joint projects, with an emphasis on co-production and co-development by the two nations' defence industries. The leaders also committed to removing non-tariff barriers, expanding market access and enhancing connectivity to achieve the trade target by 2030, while underscoring a shared stance against terrorism and extremism.