Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, 30 August announced that India and Uzbekistan will jointly work to preserve Uzbekistan's Buddhist heritage sites, while also unveiling scholarships to promote the Hindi language in Uzbekistan. The announcements came during a joint press conference with Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent, following bilateral talks between the two leaders.

Elevating the Partnership

The two nations agreed to upgrade their bilateral relationship to the level of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, marking a significant diplomatic milestone as 2026 approaches — the 15th anniversary of their strategic partnership. An agreement on a 'Program of Cooperation' was also concluded to strengthen tourism linkages between the two countries.

Modi stressed that the partnership should extend beyond the two capitals, announcing plans to establish city- and state-level partnerships between India and Uzbekistan. 'It is our endeavour that our partnership should not be limited to only two capitals,' he said.

Heritage, Culture and People-to-People Ties

At the heart of Sunday's announcements was a renewed focus on shared civilisational roots. Modi emphasised that the two nations share deep cultural heritage and pledged to jointly preserve Uzbekistan's Buddhist heritage sites. Scholarships for Hindi-language promotion in Uzbekistan were announced as part of broader efforts to boost youth and student exchanges.

Notably, Uzbekistan is home to several sites of Buddhist historical significance, and this collaboration marks one of the more concrete cultural commitments to emerge from recent India-Central Asia engagement.

Defence, Security and Counter-Terrorism

On the security front, Modi underscored that defence and security cooperation between the two nations reflects 'deep mutual trust.' He announced plans to foster direct linkages, co-production, and co-development between the defence industries of both countries.

Both sides reaffirmed zero tolerance against terrorism, extremism, and separatism — a joint position that carries particular weight given the volatile security landscape in Central Asia and Afghanistan's proximity to the region.

Trade, Agriculture and Traditional Medicine

Bilateral trade between India and Uzbekistan has crossed $1 billion, and the two sides have set an ambitious target of $5 billion by 2030. To achieve this, both nations will advance cooperation in market access, connectivity, banking, and payments infrastructure.

Modi highlighted complementary strengths in agriculture and health: Uzbekistan's horticulture expertise combined with India's modern agricultural practices could jointly address food security, he said. A separate agreement on traditional medicine was also signed, combining Uzbekistan's medicinal herbs with India's Ayurveda expertise. This comes amid India's broader push to internationalise Ayurveda as both a soft-power and economic tool.

What Comes Next

With the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership now formalised, both governments are expected to operationalise the agreements on tourism, defence co-production, traditional medicine, and city-level partnerships in the months ahead. The $5 billion trade target by 2030 will require sustained progress on connectivity — a perennial challenge in India-Central Asia commerce — making the implementation phase the real test of Sunday's commitments.