President of Uzbekistan meets with CIS defense ministers

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 12 October 2018, the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received the defense departments’ heads of the Commonwealth of Independent States member states, who arrived in Uzbekistan to attend the regular meeting of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers.

The meeting was attended by Ministers of Defense of Azerbaijan Z.Hasanov, Armenia D.Tonoyan, Belarus A.Ravkov, Kazakhstan N.Yermekbayev, Russia S.Shoigu, Tajikistan Sh.Mirzo, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Kyrgyzstan R.Duishenbiev and Secretary of the Council of CIS Defense Ministers Y.Dashkin.

Welcoming the heads of delegations, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan noted with satisfaction that holding the meeting of the Council of CIS Defense Ministers for the first time in Tashkent is evidence of the new stage of Uzbekistan’s participation in the activities of the Commonwealth.

Over the past year, Uzbekistan has joined more than 10 sectoral cooperation bodies in such areas as economics, energy, science and innovation, the fight against crime, and others.

At the meeting, issues of further expansion of military and military-technical cooperation within the framework of the CIS, including inter-agency partnership, holding bilateral and multilateral activities, professional training of military personnel were discussed.

Views were exchanged on current issues of international and regional policy, including ensuring security and stability.

The heads of the CIS defense ministries expressed deep gratitude to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the warm welcome and conveyed greetings and best wishes on behalf of the heads of their states. Large-scale reforms implemented in Uzbekistan on modernizing the Armed Forces and strengthening the country’s defense capability, as well as initiatives on ensuring security, stability and sustainable development in the region were highly appreciated.

Readiness for further development of constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation between defense ministries on issues of mutual interest was expressed.

Following the meeting, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan wished success and fruitful results to the work of the meeting of the CIS Council of Defense Ministers.