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New Delhi: India is set to conduct its first-ever military exercise with Uzbekistan, in a 10-day session that will focus on counter-terrorism tactics.

The bilateral exercise, which will be held at the Chirchiq Training Area in Uzbekistan between 4 November and 13 November, is part of New Delhi’s attempts to strengthen its military diplomacy with the central Asian nation.

Sources told ThePrint that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet the Indian contingent participating in the joint exercise on 3 November. Singh will be in Uzbekistan on a three-day visit starting 1 November, representing India at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads of State meeting on 2 November.

Sources said Singh will hold a bilateral meeting with his Uzbek counterpart on 3 November, and the two countries will also discuss military education and military medicine, after which MoUs could be signed.

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What will happen during the military exercise?

The joint field training exercise 2019, or DUSTLIK-2019 as it has been named, will focus on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in “mountainous, rural and urban scenarios”, under the United Nations mandate.

Indian Army sources said that a 45-member contingent has been trained for “firing, heli-borne operations, combat conditioning, mountain craft, tactical operations and house-intervention drills”.

It is learnt that as part of the exercise, the Indian Army will conduct training on cordon and search operations, room intervention and mobile vehicle check posts, while the Uzbekistan Army will conduct training on tactical drills and survival skills in mountains and deserts.

A 24-hour exercise depicting near-actual operational situations will be the concluding part of the joint military exercise.

A senior Indian Army official said the exercise is aimed at building inter-operability and confidence between the two armies, and enable the sharing of best practices between the two.

India has been trying to reach out to Uzbekistan by means of various new areas of cooperation, as it is a key country in central Asia and also because the predominantly moderate Muslim country with a population of over 30 million is also Afghanistan’s neighbour. The two countries also share historical and cultural ties.

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