Ever since the talk of a US pullout from Afghanistan gained ground, India has been paying greater attention to Central Asia. This manifested through the growing exchange of visits between Indian and leaders of the Central Asian republics, and India stepping up its aid commitments to the region.
This week, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Uzbekistan, the first such visit in 15 years. As far as visits go, Rajnath Singh’s visit appears to be fairly routine, but it does mark a period of enhanced ties between New Delhi and Tashkent. Uzbekistan is Central Asia’s biggest military power and the country has also inherited important defence industrial assets such as the factory producing Il-76 transport jets, which the Indian Air Force also uses.
Rajnath Singh signed three MoUs to enhance cooperation in military medicine and military education and training fields, and held bilateral consultations with his counterpart, Major General Bakhodir Kurbanov. Thereafter, both ministers presided over the inauguration of the first joint military exercise ‘Dustlik 2019’, which begins today, 4 November, and will continue till 13 November at the Chirchiq Training area near Tashkent. India also extended a USD 40 million line of credit for the procurement of goods and services from India.