India and Uzbekistan – Notes on Oral History

 

India and Uzbekistan – Notes on Oral History

I have been writing, off and on, in my blogs about some of my diplomatic and sometimes undiplomatic reflections of my work in the MEA and Indian diplomatic missions abroad. With reference to PM Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Kyrgyzstan for SCO summit
meeting, I wrote about India and Kyrgyzstan. Some of my friends and readers kindly responded and advised me to write a bit more regularly on my reminiscences and reflections on my work and interaction during my diplomatic career.  I thought of picking the threads and do my bit for consideration and understanding of my readers and the society.

As PM Narendra Modi also visited Uzbekistan in conjunction with his visit to Bishkek, let me write about Uzbekistan, the country in Central Asia with which I happened to work and interact during my tenure as the Director of Central Asia Division in the MEA from September, 1997 – December, 2000. India has civilizational bonds with Central Asian countries, extended neighborhood. The Mughal invader, Babur was an Uzbek of Fergana Valley who made India his home in the 16th century. After Uzbekistan’s independence from the erstwhile USSR in 1991, India recognized and established full-fledged diplomatic relations with Uzbekistan in March 1992. Friendly relations between the two countries got a further boost with the recent visit of PM Narendra Modi. India and Uzbekistan elevated their bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and set a $5 billion annual trade target by 2030. New agreements were signed to secured long-

term uranium supply and rare earth cooperation, alongside pacts covering defense, digital infrastructure (UPI/UZQR), and Ayurveda. Both the countries reached and signed agreements to enhance cultural ties - Buddhist site conservation and an Aral Sea afforestation Grant. PM Narendra Modi also received Uzbekistan's highest state award - the Order of Oliy Darajali Do'stlik. The interesting part is that it is easy and less time consuming to fly to Tashkent from Delhi and Amritsar than to Bombay.

Some interesting anecdotes of my tenure as Director of Central Asia Division – It fell on me to be the Aide of PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other Minister in signing the agreements at Hyderabad House during Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s visit in 2000. Obviously, the first agreement was signed by the PM Vajpayee and President Karimov. The next agreement was to be signed by EAM Jaswant Singh and his Uzbek counterpart. EAM Jaswant Singh have had sophisticated style to use good ink-pens on such occasions. Accordingly our Protocol provided, as usual, provided good pens for the purpose. It so happened that after signing the first agreement, PM

Vajpayee, subconsciously, kept the pen in the pocket of his jacket. When EAM Jaswant Singh came to sign, there was no pen. I, without looking here and there, took out my own simple ball-point from my pocket and handed it over to EAM Jaswant Singh. He was not only surprised but apparently a bit annoyed too. But there was no time to make any fuss. I got 7 agreements signed with my ball-point which included important Minister namely; Home Minister, L. K. Advani and Culture Minister, Ananth Kumar among others. Later after the signing ceremony, we moved to the PM’s lunch in honour of the visiting Uzbek President. There, I got the chance to humbly explain the fiasco to the EAM, a man of pleasant demeanor and style, Jaswant Singh. The pen was retrieved from the Hon’ble PM’s pocket through one of his personal aides. Later, with the courtesy of my colleagues in the PMO; Sunil Jain and Ajay Bisaria, I got an enlarged photo autographed by the gracious PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee which still adorns my small study at my home.  I visited Uzbekistan in 2000 as leader of an official team of representatives from the Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Shipping and Transport to study and explore the feasibility of rail-road transport of goods to the land located countries of Central Asia through the Iranian Port, Bandar Abbas. It was an educative experience as we could travel from Tashkent to the border of Turkmenistan by rail enjoying the Uzbek hospitality – butter-milk (Lassi) of camel milk etc. From Tashkent, our Embassy arranged a short visit to Samarkand and interaction at

the Lal Bahadur Shastri Centre of Indian Culture; thanks to the courtesy and hospitality of my colleagues, Ashok Sharma and Vinay Kawatra. It was pleasant to visit and see the Indian Chancery building which we got in exchange of a plot of land in Chankyapuri in New Delhi with Uzbekistan, the first Central Asian country to get a plot for their Chancery at a prestigious location. I was involved in the process of completing the deal. I also recall my involvement in the filming and shooting of a Hindi movie in Uzbekistan, land of Indian songs and dance in our ‘near abroad’.

India and Uzbekistan enjoy warm and close friendly ties as partners in development. It is a matter of great satisfaction for me as the one who remained closely associated with the process of developing excellent relations between India and Uzbekistan.