Rubio Meets Central Asian Foreign Ministers in Samarkand to Push Critical Minerals Cooperation
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian nations in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Monday for a C5+1 ministerial focused on trade, critical minerals and energy cooperation. The foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan attended, accompanied by more than 100 American business executives, according to regional outlets.
The agenda covered trade and investment, critical minerals, energy, transport links, digital technology, security and space cooperation. In a joint statement after the talks, the ministers named developing a trans-Caspian trade corridor, harmonizing customs procedures, expanding intraregional trade and deepening energy, minerals and digital-economy cooperation as priorities.
Bilateral meetings produced concrete results. Uzbekistan signed the Artemis Accords, the U.S.-led principles for lunar exploration cooperation, and the launch of Google Pay in Uzbekistan was announced.
The investment figures need context. At a Washington summit last November, the two countries announced about $34.5 billion in economic agreements and trade contracts. President Donald Trump said at the time that Uzbekistan intended to purchase and invest more than $100 billion in the United States over a decade, but that was a long-term statement of intent, not signed contracts. According to Uzbekistan’s investment ministry, the current project portfolio with the United States stands at about $35 billion, of which roughly $7 billion is complete.
Critical minerals sat at the center of the talks. Central Asia holds rich deposits of tungsten, uranium, rare earths and copper. Uzbekistan made clear it wants industrial investment that processes minerals locally with American capital and technology, not raw ore exports.
The C5+1 format was launched in Samarkand in November 2015 under then-Secretary of State John Kerry, making this a tenth-anniversary return to its birthplace. Rubio is scheduled to visit Mumbai and Jamnagar in India after Central Asia for trade and energy talks.
