Overview
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Samarkand on Saturday with a delegation of more than 200 U.S. companies and officials to meet the five Central Asian foreign ministers in a C5+1 session focused on dealmaking.
- U.S. agencies including the International Development Finance Corporation and the Export-Import Bank will offer financing and export credit to help convert earlier political commitments into concrete projects in critical minerals, power and the Middle Corridor transport route.
- Securing access to regional deposits of tungsten, uranium, rare earths, copper and gas and building local processing and value-added capacity are central U.S. goals and key questions remain about which projects are bankable and how to address water and infrastructure limits.
- Washington is also negotiating stepped-up counterterrorism and border-security cooperation with some capitals while warning about sanctions-compliance risks tied to re-exports to Russia, and officials hope to raise Central Asia’s international profile with G20 observer invites and a possible Kazakhstan Abraham Accords step.
- Human rights groups have publicly urged Rubio to condition commercial leverage—including moves on Jackson‑Vanik—on the release of political prisoners and institutional reforms, a demand that could shape which deals move forward and how Congress responds.