US Secretary of State to visit Uzbekistan next week

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and India from February 28 to March 3, 2023, the press service of the US State Department said.

On February 28, he will visit Astana, Kazakhstan, where he will meet with senior Kazakh officials to deepen bilateral cooperation. He then will participate in a C5+1 Ministerial with representatives of each of the five Central Asian states, to reaffirm the United States’ commitment to the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Central Asian countries, and to collaborate with the region on solutions to shared global challenges.

The C5+1 Ministerial will focus on enhancing economic, energy and environmental, and security cooperation among the United States, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Secretary will meet separately on the margins of the C5+1 ministerial with senior government officials from the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan to discuss opportunities for bilateral and multilateral cooperation and advance shared goal of a prosperous, secure, and democratic region. 

He will then travel to Tashkent, where he will meet with Uzbekistani officials to further advance partnership on a range of bilateral and regional issues.

On March 1, Blinken will travel to New Delhi to participate in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which will focus on strengthening multilateralism and deepening cooperation on food and energy security, sustainable development, counter-narcotics, global health, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and gender equality and women’s empowerment. He will meet with Indian government officials and civil society to reaffirm strong partnership.