U.S. Targets Central Asia's Energy and Critical Minerals in Major Trade Push

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet the foreign ministers of the Central Asian republics - Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan - in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on 19 October 2026. Rubio will be accompanied by a delegation of more than 100 U.S. companies. Washington has framed the agenda around economic connectivity, energy security, and shared regional priorities. The meeting should convert earlier political commitments into financed projects, while managing the region's balancing act between the U.S.,…