US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have agreed to deepen cooperation on transport, critical minerals and security, Euronews reports.
Meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Monday in the C5+1 format, the six governments backed investment in the Trans-Caspian trade route, which links Central Asia to Europe across the Caspian Sea, the South Caucasus and Turkey while avoiding Russia. They named mineral processing, energy and cybersecurity as priorities, but their joint statement set out no new funding figures.
The five countries keep close economic ties with Russia and China. Rubio told Euronews that Washington wanted to compete, not to tell partners to stop dealing with others. The State Department said he also discussed Kazakhstan's commitment to join the Abraham Accords with its foreign minister.
Source: Euronews
