President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev today hosted the heads of defense departments of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), who are visiting Uzbekistan to attend the meeting of the Council of CIS Defense Ministers.

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

Welcoming the heads of delegations, Shavkat Mirziyoyev noted with satisfaction that Tashkent is hosting for the first time the meeting of the CIS Council of Ministers of Defense, which is the evidence of the new stage of our country's participation in the CIS’s activities.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the ways to further expand military and military-technical cooperation within the framework of the CIS, including inter-department partnership ties, bilateral and multilateral activities, and professional training of military personnel, as well as exchanged views on topical international and regional problems, including in terms of security and stability.

The heads of the defense departments of the CIS countries expressed gratitude to the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for the warm welcome and conveyed greetings and best wishes on behalf of the heads of their states, with the parties expressing readiness to further advance constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation between defense ministries on issues of mutual interest.