Kolkata: The Sixth Joint Working Group meeting on defence cooperation between India and Uzbekistan was held in Tashkent on Wednesday, officials said.
The meeting was co-chaired by Dinesh Kumar, Joint Secretary in India’s Ministry of Defence and Lieutenant Colonel Sukhrobjon Sodikjonovich Sirojov, Ministry of Defence of Uzbekistan’s Head of the Central Department for International Military Cooperation.
Joint training and exercises, capacity building, defence education and setting up of defence industries, were among the topics of discussion, the Ministry of Defence said in an X post.
The joint training and exercises will involve specialised modules.
Stress will be on counter-terrorism operations and interoperability. These exercises will be held in both countries and allow participants to pick up best practices and strategies from each other.
As part of capacity building, ongoing educational programmes and technical assistance will be reviewed and upgraded as and where required.
The Indian delegation visited the University of Military Security and Defence in Tashkent as part of this initiative.
With India growing as a defence exporter, cooperation in the manufacturing sector was discussed.
With New Delhi laying stress on the setting up of new industries in the defence sector, talks were held on technology exchange and equipment maintenance.
The talks followed on the lines of the discussions held between India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov in New Delhi and further aligned bilateral security and critical resource partnerships.
India has longstanding and wide-ranging cooperation with Uzbekistan in the field of defence.
Bilateral defence cooperation is carried out through the Joint Working Group format, established in 2019.
India and Uzbekistan regularly participate in the joint military exercise called “DUSTLIK”.
The seventh edition was held from April 12 to 25, 2026, at the Gurumsaray Field Training Area at Namangan in Uzbekistan.
Contingents from the Mahar Regiment and Indian Air Force participated in the exercise.
The aim of the exercise was to improve joint operational skills, tactical coordination, and interoperability in semi-mountainous and semi-urban terrains.
Counter-terrorism operations, joint tactical drills, strike missions, and special operations to neutralise unlawful armed groups, were also practised during the exercise.
(IANS)
