MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Russian and Uzbek Defense Ministers, Sergei Shoigu and Kabul Berdiyev, have signed an agreement on the development of military-technical cooperation and the plan of bilateral cooperation between the two countries’ Defense Ministries for 2017.

"The signing of this document today will make it possible for us to tackle the issues of equipping your country’s armed forces without delay and boosting their combat capability. We pay considerable attention to stepping up cooperation between our Defense Ministries and putting it on a practical track," the Russian minister said.

According to Shoigu, this concerns, first and foremost, joint steps to ensure the two countries’ military security, enhance the armed forces’ combat potential, train military personnel and develop military-technical cooperation.

"The current threats and challenges in the Central Asian region require concerted action to neutralize them. It is important to prevent militants of the Islamic State (IS, outlawed in Russia - TASS) and other terrorist groups from penetrating into our countries," Shoigu stressed.

The minister added that the program of modernization and re-equipment of Uzbekistan’s armed forces with modern Russian weapons until 2020 is being implemented.