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Uzbekistan has signed multi-billion dollar agreements with the United States after President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with his US counterpart Donald Trump, following a private bilateral meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday ahead of the “C5+1 Summit” at the White House.
The so-called C5+1 Summit was a gathering involving the leaders of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the United States. The initiative started in 2015, under then US President Barack Obama, with the group hosting their first meeting in the Uzbek city of Samarkand in November of the same year.
Trump, in a post on his own social media platform, Truth Social, announced that following talks, Uzbekistan “will be purchasing and investing almost $35 Billion Dollars and, in the next 10 years, over $100 Billion Dollars.”
The US president noted that the investments are varied and will be pumped into “key American sectors, including critical minerals, aviation, automotive parts, infrastructure, agriculture, energy and chemicals, information technology and others.”
Trump praised the Uzbek leader after what he hailed as an “incredible trade and economic deal”, calling him “highly respected” as he expressed his country’s interest in what he hopes is a “long and productive relationship”.
The meeting also proved successful in other fields, which featured talks aimed at strengthening the US-Uzbek strategic partnership, enhancing political dialogue, and expanding trade, economic, investment and cultural-humanitarian cooperation.
Both sides emphasised the importance of implementing the agreements reached during their previous meeting in New York in September, on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly High-level week.
During the meeting, President Mirziyoyev proposed around 10 key initiatives. Those include the establishment of a permanent secretariat to ensure continuous coordination among member countries, creating a coordination council to on investment and trade to strengthen economic ties and launching the Central Asian Investment Partnership Fund to attract and manage joint investments in key projects.
Mirziyoyev also proposed building better transport, communications and energy infrastructure between the region and Europe, and establishing a special committee to oversee the exploration, extraction and processing of critical minerals.
The Uzbek leader also told Trump that more work is needed to modernise the region’s agricultural technology through US innovation, as well as to promote Uzbek cultural heritage in major US museums.
“I am confident that advanced American experience and technology, combined with the region’s skilled human resources, industrial capacity, and resource potential, can yield tangible results in the very near future,” said Sherzod Asadov, press secretary to the president of Uzbekistan.
The Uzbek president, who also praised the US president for his leadership, at the conclusion of the negotiations, invited Trump to pay an official visit to Uzbekistan at a mutually convenient time.