USA-Central Asia Summit – natural materials and declarations

On November 6, president Donald Trump welcomed the presidents of 5 Central Asian states into the White House. This was the second summit of the C5+1 format in existence since 2015 at the level of the Heads of State and the first 1 in Washington. During the event and the preceding meetings, a number of bilateral agreements and trade and investment agreements were signed concerning, in particular, critical natural materials crucial to the US economy. According to information provided by the Central Asian States, the agreements, in addition to natural materials, besides included US investments in the region and areas of water management, transport, fresh technologies and artificial intelligence. During the summit president Trump announced that Kazakhstan would join the alleged Abrahamic Agreements (initiated in 2020 and normalising relations between Israel and respective arabian states). However, given that he has maintained diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992, this step must be considered symbolic and without affecting the change in relations between the 2 countries.

The United States is curious in strengthening relations with Central Asian countries mainly due to the richness of natural resources in the region. Importing their critical natural materials would reduce the dependency on more problematic partners, mainly China. For Central Asia, rapprochement with Washington opens up the anticipation of diversifying its trade relations and prospects for large American investments.

Comment

• The increasing interest in Central Asia states to strengthen relations with the United States is part of the process of diversifying their abroad policies after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is peculiarly actual of the directions of economical cooperation – it is crucial for the region to become independent of historically strongest partners, especially Russia, to an expanding degree perceived not as a key ally but besides as a threat to security. An additional origin in strengthening contacts is the departure of the current US administration from the force to democratise its political systems and from the request to limit cooperation with Russia and China. The drive to intensify relations with the US, seen in the policies of all countries of the region, is most evident in the case of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Tashkent late signed a contract to acquisition more than $8 billion of Boeing aircraft by state airlines, and besides decided to waive the visa request for US citizens from 2026. In turn, the value of Kazakh-American trade increased from $3.1 billion in 2022 to 4.2 billion in 2024.
• The C5+1 gathering is the announcement of a greater United States activity in the region. Opening the summit, president Trump stressed that Central Asia had been wrongly marginalized in American politics so far. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the arrival of all 5 states in 2026. In turn, Uzbek president Szawkat Mirzijoev invited Trump to visit his country – this would be the first always journey of the US president to Central Asia.
• The change in the United States' approach to the region is mainly due to the increasing request to diversify sources of critical natural materials, in peculiar uncommon earth metals, tungsten and uranium, which are owned by the states there – this becomes peculiarly crucial in the context of the expanding tensions with China and the export restrictions they impose – as well as the expanding importance of Central Asia as a key transport route.
• Among the reasons for expanding Washington's interest in the region is besides the desire to limit Moscow and Beijing's dominant position. Earlier this year, leaders of Central Asia met both president Xi Jinping (16–18 June) and Vladimir Putin (9 October). The engagement of the United States is besides due to the desire to join its key partners. Washington is presently developing a strategy for a region that is geared towards achieving the top possible benefits, based primarily on trade. It should be noted, however, that, despite a clear change in the approach of the US, the countries of Central Asia, in peculiar Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, inactive have the initiative to step up their cooperation with the United States.