Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, conveyed to the Uzbek Prime Minister, Savkit Mirziyayev, at a meeting in Tashkent India’s interest in exploring for gold in gold-rich Uzbekistan since India is now the world’s largest importer of gold. The Uzbek government has agreed to consider a proposal from MMTC/ National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) for gold exploration but wants this proposal to include value-addition investments in Uzebekistan itself, like production of gold jewellery. MMTC and NMDC will now formulate a proposal for submission to the Uzbek government in the next 30 days, according to the Press Information Bureau. %% The Uzbek Prime Minister underscored the special cultural and political relationship that exists between India and Uzbekistan. He felt that the time was now ripe for taking the bilateral economic relationship to a whole new level.