President Islam Karimov’s Army Day Message calls for vigilance, raising combat readiness

Uzbek President Islam Karimov called for vigilance and raising combat readiness in his Army Day message. Uzbekistan marks Army Day on 14 January. Following is excerpts from Uzbek leader's message.

Esteemed soldiers, sergeants, officers, generals and veterans of the armed forces!

I congratulate you and all our compatriots, who have devoted themselves to the honourable job of defending Motherland, on the occasion of a remarkable day in our country's life - Homeland Defenders' Day and the 15th anniversary of the armed forces of Uzbekistan.

Over the past 15 years, a great job have been done in our country in terms of its scale and essence to build the armed forces that meet current requirements and standards, the forces that are a reliable guarantee of independence, security and territorial integrity of and sustainable and intensive democratic development in the country.

Summing up the aforementioned, we have every reason to state with a feeling of great satisfaction that today Uzbekistan practically possesses a moderate-sized but modern and adequately armed national army capable of protecting the territorial integrity of the country, inviolability of its borders, its stability and peace and calm of our people.

Dear compatriots! We are living in a very uneasy time. Unrelenting tension in the Central Asian region, the continuing conflicts and confrontations around the world, the growing scope of terrorism, extremism and the onslaught of drugs cannot but cause serious concern.

All these requires all those who are not indifferent to the fate of the country and its future to be vigilant, to raise the combat readiness of our armed forces, increase the reliability of defence and protection of the state border and mobilize our reserves and potentials on this.

In this connection I deem it necessary:

First, to continue and intensify the comprehensive work that has begun to analyze modern challenges and threats to security, to reveal tendencies and possible consequences of their development in the medium- and long-term perspective, to critically approach the assessment of the readiness of our armed forces to counteract every encroachment on the country's security and stability adequately and effectively.

Second, to give specific attention to further equipping troops with up-to-date weapons and hardware, high-precision weapons, electronic and computer control and communication systems, reliable kit and individual means of protection, and, ultimately, to achieve high combat readiness, maneuverability, mobility and self-sufficiency of divisions and units, and, in the first instance, of antiterrorist subunits.