Rubio arrives in Uzbekistan

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Uzbekistan on Monday to promote trade and ties with Central Asia, with a stop in India planned later in the week.

Critics say he's avoiding hard issues

The trip has only tangential links to the Trump administration's main foreign policy dilemmas in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war, prompting suggestions Rubio is choosing diplomatically safer visits.

Meeting with five Central Asian nations

In Samarkand, Rubio met with counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan under the C5+1 diplomatic forum to discuss security, trade and shared concerns.

Region neglected for two decades

Rubio said Central Asia has not received the level of attention from US policymakers over the last twenty years that it deserves, but that is changing with this visit.

“Central Asia has just not gotten the level of attention from our policymakers over the last 20 years that it deserves. But that's changing. That's why we're here now.”

Nearly three hundred US businesses attend

Rubio described an incredible delegation with representatives of almost three hundred American businesses joining the trip, the most ambitious US attempt in decades to boost economic ties with the region.

Trump hosted leaders at White House

President Donald Trump hosted Central Asian leaders at a White House summit last November and announced more than one hundred thirty billion dollars in commercial deals, including Boeing aircraft purchases.

Only Kazakhstan signed Abraham Accords

The administration has sought to get the Muslim majority countries to join the Abraham Accords, which expanded Arab states with diplomatic ties to Israel. Only Kazakhstan, which had already recognized Israel, signed.