U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Samarkand on October 18 for talks with the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian countries, with regional cooperation and U.S.-Uzbekistan business ties on the agenda.
Saida Mirziyoyeva, head of Uzbekistan’s Presidential Administration, and other government officials welcomed Rubio upon his arrival.
“Delighted to welcome the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the historic city of Samarkand on his first visit to Central Asia. We look forward to C5+1 discussions, meeting with business leaders, and a session of the American-Uzbek Business and Investment Council. Welcome to Uzbekistan, Mr. Secretary,” Mirziyoyeva wrote on her Telegram channel.
Source: Telegram / Saida Mirziyoyeva
During his visit, Rubio is scheduled to meet with the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as part of the C5+1 format, which brings together the United States and the five Central Asian countries.
The visit is also expected to include meetings with business representatives. Earlier reports indicated that Rubio would travel with more than 200 business representatives, highlighting Washington’s interest in strengthening economic ties with the region.
Source: Telegram / Saida Mirziyoyeva
After his visit to Uzbekistan, Rubio is expected to travel to the Indian cities of Mumbai and Jamnagar. He has previously described all five Central Asian countries as important U.S. partners.
Earlier, Rubio explained why he had decided to visit Uzbekistan amid escalating international crises.
“You’re always visiting someplace where there’s a crisis or there’s a problem or there’s a — you’re going because there’s a conference. But there’s countries you’d like to get to because we want to build our relationships with them. And so that’s what we did a couple weeks ago when we went to Greece and other places like that, and earlier, a few weeks earlier than that, we went to Latin America, and now to Central Asia,” Rubio said.
Rubio also noted that the timing of the trip provided an opportunity to bring together the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian countries.