New Delhi: India and Uzbekistan have inked three pacts on cooperation in security ties after a meeting between the defence ministers of the two countries, the defence ministry said on Sunday.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is attending Council of Heads and Governments (CHGs) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as the special envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tashkent, held talks with his Uzbek counterpart Major General Bakhodir Nizamovich Kurbanov on Saturday.
“Following the meeting, the two sides concluded a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of Military Medicine between the armed forces of the two countries.
In the coming days, the sides will continue discussions at the expert level to further enhance their exchanges in this sphere,” a statement by the defence ministry said.
The MoU is a byproduct of interactions emanating from the MoU on Military Education signed between the two countries in October 2018, it said.
Two Institution-to-Institution MoUs on training and capacity building between institutes of higher military learning of the two countries were also signed, the statement said.
“The defence ministers agreed that the two sides would continue to work together to further raise their level of engagement in the defence sphere in keeping with strategic partnership between India and Uzbekistan,” it said.
In the coming days, the statement said, the two sides will continue discussions at the expert level to further enhance their exchanges in this sphere.
The two defence ministers also witnessed the first-ever exchange over a video-link between College of Defence Management in Secunderabad, Telangana, and Armed Forces Academy of Uzbekistan in Tashkent.
This would be based on higher level of mutual trust and respect between the two countries and on their shared views and approaches on a range of regional and international issues, including promoting regional stability and security and combatting extremism and terrorism, the statement said. (PTI)
