India has over 450 firms, 4 universities in Uzbekistan

BILATERAL relations between India and Uzbekistan, which have been strong historically, have been further strengthened with the increasing presence of Indian industries and university campuses.

- YESHI SELI

"Our association with India can be traced back to over thousands of years, to the time of Spice Routes. As of now, there are close to 450 Indian companies in Uzbekistan and more than 260 of these are 100 per cent owned by Indians," Uzbekistan's ambassador to India, Dilshod Akhatov, told this newspaper.

Most of the Indian companies in Uzbekistan are pharmaceuticals majors. This include joint ventures. There are also factories for processing stones, marbles and mining.

Besides, not many would know there are campuses of four Indian universities in Uzbekistan that are imparting education to thousands of Uzbeks.

"We have four Indian universities, which include Amity in Tashkent, Sharda in Andijan, Sambram Institute of Information Technology in Jizakh region and a fourth in Bukhara region by the Acharya Group of Institutions (this too is an IT University)," said Akhatov.

Sharda University was the first to come up in Uzbekistan in 2019, he said.