The defence ministers of Russia and Uzbekistan, Anatoly Serdyukov and Ruslan Mirzayev, discussed regional security and prospects for military and military-technical cooperation at the talks in the Uzbek capital on Monday.

"The state of military-technical cooperation between Moscow and Tashkent meets the interests of Russia and Uzbekistan," Uzbekistan’s Defence Minister Ruslan Mirzayev said at the talks with his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov.

Mirzayev said bilateral relations in the defence area "have positive dynamics." "This is due to special attention the supreme commanders of our countries give to strengthening defences and security," he said.

Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, on his part, said, "Military cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan stepped up at every level." "This is confirmed by the results of the visit of Uzbekistan’s defence minister to Moscow, the meeting of the chiefs of the General staffs of the two countries, the participation of our states in the joint exercises of the CSTO "Rubezh 2007" (Frontier 2007), and the manoeuvres of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries "Peace Mission 2007," the Russian minister said.

On the results of the talks the chiefs of the defence ministries of the two countries endorsed the plan of bilateral cooperation between the defense ministries of Russia and Uzbekistan for 2008.