During the meeting, Sergei Shoigu stated that Uzbekistan and Russia are working hard to strengthen military, military-technical cooperation, the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"The growing threats from increasing instability of Afghanistan force us to cooperate more and more closely in the fight against both international terrorism and security in this region,” Russian Defense Minister said.

He added that Uzbekistan is Russia’s strategic partner in the Central Asian region. Shoigu added that the countries successfully are cooperating in many areas, including the sphere of security.

“Today we must consolidate our efforts to confront challenges and threats, especially from international terrorism,” Sergei Shoigu said.

He underlined that over the past year, it has been possible to significantly improve the level of cooperation between the defense ministries of Russia and Uzbekistan, which should be supported and developed.

Shoigu expressed the hope that today’s meeting will give an additional impetus to development of cooperation in the field of security and will contribute to the strengthening of friendly relations between the armed forces of the two countries.

“We are ready to deepen our cooperation in all areas. In all directions, we will do everything possible to ensure the defense capability of the southern borders of the Commonwealth, we will not stand aside,” Abdusalom Azizov said.