India-Uzbekistan joint military exercise 'Dustlik-2019' to begin today

The first-ever India-Uzbekistan joint military exercise - Dustlik-2019 is set to begin today at Chirchiq Training Area near Tashkent. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh along with Uzbek counterpart Major General Bakhodir Nizamovich attended the 'Curtain Raiser' event of the joint exercise on Sunday. Singh's visit is said to be the first by an Indian Defence Minister to Uzbekistan in about 15 years.

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The Defence Minister has taken to Twitter to express his contentment on the First Joint Exercise of the armed forces of India and Uzbekistan.

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Joint Military Exercise focuses on counter-terrorism

The Joint Military Exercise will be focused on counter-terrorism, an area in which the two countries share a common concern. In the exercise, an Indian Army contingent will train along with Uzbekistan Army. The exercise will enable the sharing of best practices and experiences between the Armed Forces of the two countries and would lead to greater operational effectiveness.

The Defense Minister has assured Uzbekistan of Indian armed forces' commitment to providing all assistance and support in modernization and capacity building efforts of Uzbek Armed Forces. Singh also invited Major General Kurbanov to visit India to continue this high-level political-military dialogue between India and Uzbekistan.

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India-Uzbekistan signed three MoUs in the field of Military Medicine and Military Education to further strengthen the Defence cooperation between both the countries. 

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