The Russian minister of defence, Anatoliy Serdyukov, and his Uzbek counterpart, Ruslan Mirzayev, have discussed the issues of regional security, prospects for military and technical cooperation during talks held in Uzbek capital.

"The present state of military and technical cooperation between Moscow and Tashkent meet the interests of Russia and Uzbekistan," the Uzbek minister of defence, Ruslan Mirzayev, said as he opened the talks with Serdyukov.

He said that bilateral relations in the field of defence "have a positive dynamics". "This is the result of special attention paid by the supreme commanders-in-chief of our countries to the issues of reinforcing defence and security," Mirzayev said.

He added that military cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan "has a positive impact on the process of reforming the Uzbek armed forces".

The Russian defence minister said for his part that "military cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan has become more active at all levels". "The proof of this is a visit by the Uzbek defence minister to Moscow, a meeting of the heads of the two countries’ main headquarters, our states’ participation in the `Rubezh [Borderline]-2007’ joint exercise of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Peaceful Mission 2007 antiterror manoeuvres of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries," the Russian minister said.

On the results of the talks, the two ministers approved a plan of bilateral cooperation between the defence ministries of Russia and Uzbekistan for 2008.

Anatoliy Serdyukov arrived in Tashkent today on a one-day visit. It is expected that President Islom Karimov will receive him. After the end of his visit he will fly to Yerevan.