Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Khairullaev said on Saturday that the successful Tajik-Chinese military exercises were the fruit of the mutual trust between the two countries.

In the face of increasing cross-border actions by international terrorist groups, armed forces of all countries and coordination organizations should strengthen mutual trust in their cooperation and exchanges in order to sharpen their fighting capacity to combat terrorist attacks, the Tajik minister told Chinese and Tajik reporters.

Speaking highly of the performance of the Chinese troops in the joint exercises, the minister expressed the hope that the military forces of the two countries would have increased cooperation in the anti-terror and non-traditional security areas in the future.

The minister made the remarks as more than 300 Tajik troops from the artillery, infantry and airborne divisions, as well as a reinforced company of more than 150 Chinese troops wrapped up a two-day exercise, code-named "Coordination 2006."

The mountain warfare exercises, which were held under a memorandum signed by the Tajik and Chinese defense ministers in Beijing in April, are designed to enhance the two sides' mutual trust and cooperative ties as well as to maintain regional security and stability.

Source: Xinhua