Indian & Uzbek troops perform heliborne training during Dustlik 2019

As the ‘Dustlik 2019’ is underway, the India-Uzbekistan joint troops were seen performing a heliborne training exercise on Thursday. This comes as the Indian troops are visiting Uzbekistan for the first time for the Indo-Uzbek Joint Exercise named 'Dustlik 2019'. The Union Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh attended the curtain raiser event of this joint exercise on November 4 along with his Uzbek counterpart Major General Bakhodir Nizamovich Kurbanov.  

The joint military exercise 

India and Uzbekistan’s joint exercise is a 10-day-long drill that is being conducted in Chirchiq Training Area near Tashkent. The drill started on November 4. 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.

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Defence Minister’s visit to Russia 

The Defence Minister Rajnath Singh left for Russia from Uzbekistan to attend the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) in Moscow from Nov 5-7. However, before this, he made a statement in Uzbekistan urging the isolation of the countries that have adopted terrorism as a state policy. Rajnath Singh met his counterpart Russian counterpart General Shoigu in Russia. During their meeting, General Shoigu termed India as an "exclusive strategic defence partner." 

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As a mark of a long-standing friendship between the Armed Forces of India and Russia, Rajnath Singh presented General Shoigu a bowl mounted on a triangular base with three Indian Army soldiers' statuettes in ceremonial regalia and rifle. The ministers, during the meeting, reviewed the progress of the two working groups on Military and Military-Technical Cooperation. It was agreed that the forthcoming Tri-Service Indra Exercises will be a major milestone in Military Cooperation between the two countries, added the release. 

(With ANI Inputs)

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