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Uzbekistan signed a multibillion-dollar agreement with the United States after President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with US President Donald Trump during a closed-door 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 meeting attended by the leaders of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the United States. The initiative began in 2015 under then-US President Barack Obama, and the group hosted its first meeting in the Uzbekistan city of Samarkand in November of that year.
After the meeting, President Trump announced in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that Uzbekistan would “purchase and invest approximately $35 billion, or more than $100 billion over the next 10 years.”
The US president said the investments would be wide-ranging and go into “key US sectors including critical minerals, aviation, auto parts, infrastructure, agriculture, energy and chemicals, information technology and more.”
President Trump praised the Uzbek leader, calling it an “incredible trade and economic deal,” expressing his country’s interest in a “long and fruitful relationship,” and calling him “highly respected.”
The meeting was also successful in other areas, with talks aimed at strengthening the strategic partnership between the United States and Uzbekistan, increasing political dialogue, and expanding trade, economic, investment, and cultural and humanitarian cooperation.
Both sides emphasized the importance of implementing the agreements reached at the previous meeting in New York in September on the occasion of the 80th United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week.
During the meeting, President Mirziyoyev proposed about 10 important initiatives. These include the establishment of a permanent secretariat to ensure continued coordination among member countries, the creation of a Coordination Council on Investment and Trade to strengthen economic ties, and the launch of the Central Asia Investment Partnership Fund to attract and manage joint investments in major projects.
Mirziyoyev also proposed creating a special committee to oversee the creation of better transport, communication and energy infrastructure between the region and Europe, as well as the exploration, extraction and processing of important minerals.
Uzbekistan’s leader also told President Trump that more efforts are needed to modernize the region’s agricultural technology through American innovation and promote Uzbekistan’s cultural heritage in major museums in the United States.
“We are confident that America’s advanced experience and technology, combined with the region’s skilled human resources, industrial capabilities and resource potential, will be able to produce concrete results in the near future,” Uzbekistan Presidential Spokesperson Sherzod Asadov said.
The President of Uzbekistan also praised the leadership of the President of the United States and, upon the conclusion of negotiations, invited President Trump to make an official visit to Uzbekistan at a mutually convenient time.