The summit of the foreign ministers of the C5+1 countries will be held on February 28 in the capital of Kazakhstan Astana with the participation of Anthony Blinken. This "meeting will be dedicated to strengthening economic, energy, environmental and security cooperation between the United States, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan," the US State Department said in a statement.
In Astana, Blinken will also meet with President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and hold talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic Mukhtar Tleuberdi. Separately, Blinken will meet with senior government officials from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and then travel to Uzbekistan.
"The main purpose of the visit [of the US Secretary of State] is to discuss issues of further development of the Uzbek-American strategic partnership," the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.
In 2022, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu visited Central Asia twice. He visited all the states of the region to "reaffirm the commitment of the United States to the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of each country" and to present programs to support local economies.
Meanwhile, Russia calls on the countries of Central Asia to exercise maximum caution when building interaction with the West. Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Galuzin said: “Indeed, the US and the EU have noticeably stepped up contacts with the states of Central Asia. Our partners are required to condemn the special operation in Ukraine, to join the illegal anti-Russian sanctions, and to curtail cooperation with our country as a whole. In return, they promise some kind of ephemeral ''support for economic development'' and other ''dividends'', saying that they are allegedly capable of becoming a ''profitable alternative'' to Moscow and Beijing. Under this mute, Washington is trying to get the consent of the Central Asian states to deploy their military infrastructure in the region.”
CentralasianLIGHT.org
February 27, 2023