India Uzbekistan relations are old, based mostly on Buddhism’s spread during the Khusana empire that included southern and southeastern regions of modern-day Uzbekistan. Ujbekistan also brings back memoirs of the late Indian Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri who passed away in Tashkent in January 1966. PM Shri Narendra Modi paid a bilateral visit to Uzbekistan in 2015; and visited Tashkent for the SCO Council of Heads of States meeting in 2016. The relationship has obviously retained its verve, over the decades.
Recently, the bilateral ties between India and Uzbekistan received a powerful boost with the visit of the Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande. In his rather extensive itinerary is also included the inauguration of a high-tech IT Laboratory at the Uzbek Academy of Armed Forces.
This development marks a milestone in the defence cooperation between the two nations, following a commitment made during the Defence Ministers’ meeting in September 2018.
The request to establish an IT Lab was initially made during this high-level discussion, and the project gained momentum with the approval in 2019, funded through the Ministry of External Affairs’ ‘Aid to Eurasia’ initiative.
It has been learnt that the bids exceeded the envisaged budget of Rs 6.5 Crore. Hence, Rs 8.5 Crore was ultimately allotted for the project, as informed by sources. An Indian firm won the contract, made the lab fully operational well in time.
The IT Laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including nine rooms which house two lecture halls, a cutting-edge Cybersecurity Lab, a Hardware Programming Lab, an Object-Oriented Programming Lab, a Web Programming Lab, a Server Room, a Multimedia Room, and a Virtual Reality Room. Additional facilities include video conferencing terminals, interactive panels, networking devices, and an assortment of computing equipment comprising large number of high end PCs, workstations and laptops, alongside essential peripherals like printers, cameras, scanners, and storage devices.
This collaborative initiative is not just a leap in technological advancement for Uzbekistan’s defence academy but also a bridge reinforcing the expanding partnership between the two nations, promising a future of cooperation in defence and technology.
With the invasion of technology in the battlefield, the establishment of the IT lab will be an useful element for training of the Uzbekistan forces. It will also assist in fostering a deeper understanding and cooperation between the forces of India and Uzbekistan in the years to come.
Team Bharatshakti
