Washington’s Central Asia Charm Offensive Yields $12 Billion in Deals

AI Summary

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio led a delegation to Central Asia, where a business forum in Samarkand produced reported deals worth $12 billion. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan welcomed the engagement but called for political agreements to be converted into concrete investments.

Central Asia’s two economic drivers, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, seem satisfied with the results of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to the region. But Astana and Tashkent both want to see more done to “translate political agreements into concrete investments.” Rubio led a large American delegation that participated in a business forum in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on October 19. The same day he met with the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian states within the C5+1 format and held one-on-one talks with…