Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on November 03 attended the curtain raiser event of the first Indo-Uzbek Joint Exercise named 'Dustlik-2019' at the Armed Forces in Tashkent. The Defence Minister and his Uzbek counterpart jointly presided over the 'curtain raiser' of the first-ever India-Uzbekistan Joint Exercise. The exercise will be conducted from November 4-13 at Chirchiq Training Area near Tashkent and will be focused on counter-terrorism, an area in which the two countries share a common concern. The exercise will enable the sharing of best practices and experiences between the Armed Forces of the two countries and would lead to greater operational effectiveness. While addressing the Indian Army as well as Uzbekistan Army, he invited Uzbek Armed Forces for the 2020 joint military exercises in India.