Minister Crosetto met with the President of the Republic, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Minister of Defence, General Bakhodir Kurbanov and the Special Representative for Foreign Policy Affairs of the President, Abdulaziz Kamilov in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. "Uzbekistan is key to the security of Central Asia. Today we are launching a new season of cooperation between our countries to develop synergies that can be beneficial for both countries", said Defence Minister Guido Crosetto at the end of the institutional meetings held today.

Minister Crosetto met with his counterpart, General Bakhodir Kurbanov, during a friendly conversation in which the two Ministers confirmed their willingness to strengthen cooperation between Italian and Ukrainian Defence.

"Several cooperation activities exist between our defence organisations, which should be increased, in the fields of military training, military health and operational training and the defence industry", said Minister Crosetto.

Afterwards, there was a meeting with the President's Special Representative for Foreign Policy Affairs, Abdulaziz Kamilov, during which there was a broad discussion on the main topics of common interest. Opportunities to develop new ideas for the Italy-Central Asia ministerial meeting in the 1+5 format (Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) were also discussed.

In particular, Minister Crosetto proposed extending the work of the ministerial meeting to include not only Foreign Affairs but also Defence and the Economy.

In addition, he launched the idea of a forum to involve the main stakeholders of the two countries to further expand cooperation and dialogue, with a focus on the geopolitical and energy situation.

The Minister concluded his official visit to the country by meeting the President of the Republic, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who will be visiting Italy next June. The meeting took place in an atmosphere of utmost cordiality, during which Minister Crosetto said: "Italy and Uzbekistan share the desire to structure solid relations in order to start a new season of strategic partnership".