Belarusian military-industrial complex shows interest in the Uzbek market

The Belarusian defence industry regards Uzbekistan as a promising market, not only as meeting Uzbek security forces’ needs but also as an entry point to other markets of the region.

On July 26^th, 2019, Minsk and Brest hosted the 2^nd meeting of the Joint Belarusian-Uzbek Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation with the participation of relevant ministries, departments and military enterprises of Belarus and Uzbekistan. The sides discussed bilateral cooperation in the military-technical sphere, the implementation of previously adopted decisions, and outlined priority areas for further cooperation.

Uzbek representatives visited several Belarusian military-industrial enterprises to see their capacities and facilities. The event lasted six days and was held in two cities, apparently, to provide the Uzbek side with a good opportunity to familiarize with the capacities of the Belarusian military-industrial complex. The event in Brest, a city at the Belarus-EU border not having any military production, apparently focused on Belarus-made technical modalities of border protection and UAVs operations and other practical operational aspects.

The fact that the commission is headed by the Chairman of the Belarusian State Military Committee, Raman Halauchanka, and the Chairman of the Uzbekistan State Committee for the Defense Industry, Atabek Ibadullayev, means how important military-technical cooperation is for both states or rather its developmental prospect and potential. The Uzbekistan State Committee for the Defense Industry was established a little over a year ago and bearing in mind that the meetings of the commission on military-technical cooperation are usually annual, the Uzbekistan Defense Industry appears to have a great interest in cooperation with Belarus.

Belarus is interested in developing cooperation with Uzbekistan not only because it has the largest army in the region, but also due to its ties with Afghanistan, which is among major exploiters of the Mi-8 / Mi-17 helicopters. Belarus is ready to offer her aircraft repair services to Afghanistan. Previously, she assisted the Afghan army in building its air corps capacities.