Overview
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Samarkand on Saturday with a delegation of more than 200 U.S. companies and officials to meet the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
- Washington is pressing for bankable flagship projects in critical minerals, energy generation and storage, and transport links and is bringing U.S. finance agencies such as the DFC and Ex‑Im to help make deals viable.
- The visit pairs commercial outreach with expanded security cooperation, including plans to strengthen counterterrorism, border management, and anti‑narcotics efforts though officials have not detailed specific programs.
- Human-rights groups are urging the U.S. to tie major concessions such as a Jackson‑Vanik delisting to concrete reforms and the release of political prisoners, notably Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov, whose detention U.N. experts have flagged.
- Central Asian capitals want diversified partners and higher international standing — Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were invited to attend the G20 as observers and Kazakhstan has signaled interest in the Abraham Accords — even as practical limits persist on processing capacity, transit bottlenecks on the Middle Corridor, and water and climate pressures.