'Committed to provide assistance,' Rajnath Singh attends curtain-raiser for Indo-Uzbek Joint Exercise

Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Nov 3 (ANI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday attended the curtain raiser event of the first Indo-Uzbek Joint Exercise named 'Dustlik-2019' at the Armed Forces in Tashkent and said that India is committed to providing assistance to Uzbekistan.
"I would like to assure you that India's armed forces are committed to providing all assistance and support to our Uzbek brothers in modernization and capacity building efforts of Uzbek Armed Forces," the official Twitter account of the Defence Ministry quoted him as saying at the event.
Singh said that India is committed to help Uzbekistan in setting up of a state of the art IT Complex at the Armed Forces Academy in Tashkent and also assist by placing a set of IT experts and English Language instructors.
"Terrorism is a global menace and all nations are affected by it in some form of the other. There are many instances wherein certain countries have utilized terror as an instrument of state policy. There is a need for all countries to condemn such actions & isolate them," he said.
"It gives me immense pleasure to be here in Uzbekistan on this momentous occasion wherein the armies of our two great nations are ready to participate in their first Joint Exercise 'Dustlik-2019," he added.
The Defence Minister also said that India recognizes that Uzbekistan seeks enhanced cooperation with our country in the field of military medicine and that the two nations jointly signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field.
Singh had on Saturday taken to twitter to announce that India and Uzbekistan had signed three MoUs in the field of military medicine and military education to further strengthen the defense cooperation between both the countries.
The Defence Minister and his Uzbek counterpart jointly presided over the 'curtain raiser' of the first-ever India-Uzbekistan Joint Exercise 'Dustlik 2019'.
The exercise will be conducted from November 4 to 13, 2019 at Chirchiq Training Area near Tashkent and 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. (ANI)