NEW DELHI (PTI): Indian Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande on Wednesday inaugurated a state-of-the-art IT laboratory facility that also boasts a cutting-edge cybersecurity lab at the Uzbek Academy of Armed Forces during his ongoing visit to Uzbekistan, sources said.

The development signifies a milestone in defence cooperation between the two nations, following a commitment made during the Defence Ministers' meeting in September 2018, Indian Army sources said.

Gen Pande is visiting Uzbekistan from April 15-18 to explore new avenues of bilateral military collaboration.

He is scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks with the top military brass of the Central Asian nation besides visiting a number of defence establishments, the defence ministry had earlier said in a statement.

In a significant step toward strengthening bilateral ties between India and Uzbekistan, Gen Pande inaugurated a high-tech IT laboratory at the Uzbek Academy of Armed Forces, the sources said.

The laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including nine rooms that house two lecture halls, a cutting-edge cybersecurity lab, a hardware programming lab, an object-oriented programming lab, a web programming lab, a server room, a multimedia room, and a virtual reality room, they said.

Additional facilities include videoconferencing terminals, interactive panels, networking devices, and an assortment of computing equipment comprising a large number of high-end PCs, workstations and laptops, alongside essential peripherals such as printers, cameras, scanners, and storage devices.

The request to establish an IT lab was initially made during the Defence Ministers' meeting in September 2018, and the project gained momentum with the approval in 2019, funded through the Ministry of External Affairs' Aid to Eurasia initiative, the army sources added.

It has been learnt that the bids exceeded the envisaged budget of Rs 6.5 crore. As a result, Rs 8.5 crore was allotted for the project. An Indian company won the contract and made the lab fully operational well in time, they said.

This collaborative initiative is not just a "leap in technological advancement" for Uzbekistan's defence academy but also a bridge "reinforcing the expanding partnership" between the two nations, promising a future of cooperation in defence and technology, a source said.

The establishment of the IT lab is expected to enrich the training resources available to the Uzbek armed forces and foster a deeper understanding and cooperation between India and Uzbekistan in the years to come, they said.

The defence ministry on Monday described the Army chief's visit to Uzbekistan as a "significant step" in bolstering defence cooperation between the two countries.