Uzbekistan says its position remains to be non-membership in alliances of military and political nature.
Acting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said the "firm position of our country, as before, is non-membership in all military-political alliances and not allowing other states' military bases and facilities on the territory of Uzbekistan."
Mirziyoyev made the remark during a parliament session in which he was appointed interim president, a foreign ministry statement reported Friday.
The acting president followed in the footsteps of late President Islam Karimov.
On Thursday, the parliament approved 58-year-old Mirziyoyev as the acting president after he received the support of senate leader Nigmatilla Yuldashev, who “recused himself” from his right to take the post. Under Uzbekistan's constitution, Yuldashev should have become the acting president until an election was held later this year.
"No one should doubt that any attempt by internal and external forces to encroach on the sovereignty and independence of our country will be severely suppressed," Mirziyoyev stated.
Also on Friday, the election commission said presidential polls would take place on December 4.
Analysts predict that Mirziyoyev, who served as the prime minister for about 13 years, will be the winner.
Islam Karimov, who had ruled Uzbekistan since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, died on September 2, almost one week after he suffered a brain stroke.
Under his reign, Uzbekistan refrained from having any military alliance with the strategic partners Russia and the United States.
Tashkent left a Russia-led security organization in 2012 and annulled a military base lease to the US after Washington urged an independent investigation into the May 2005 unrest in Uzbekistan.
