# Secretary of State Marco Rubio And Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov

Date: 19 Oct 2026
Released by: Marco Rubio, Secretary of State

## MediaRelease.co Summary

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov met in Samarkand as Uzbekistan hosted this week’s C5+1 ministerial meetings with Central Asian nations. Rubio said more than $25 billion in U.S.–Central Asia commercial deals have been secured since last November’s C5+1 presidential summit, with over $100 billion more planned. He cited Uzbekistan’s agreement to buy 22 Boeing Dreamliners, a bilateral critical minerals MOU, progress on securing uranium supplies, and a new joint Business and Investment Council.

## Original release

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State Congress Center Samarkand, Uzbekistan October 19, 2026 FOREIGN MINISTER SAIDOV: Honorable Secretary, dear colleagues, first of all let me warmly welcome all of you into Uzbekistan. It’s a great honor for us to receive you here in Samarkand, and we attach special importance to your visit, which comes at a very significant moment in the relations between Uzbekistan and United States. Thanks to the strong political will and close personal relationship of President Mirziyoyev and President Trump, our strategic partnership has reached a new level and our political dialogue has become more active. Economic and investment cooperation is expanding, and we are also strengthening our partnership in security and regional affairs. So we are committed to building a strong, long-term, and mutually beneficial partnership with the United States. We highly value your personal attention to Uzbekistan and Central Asia, and your contribution to advancing our relations. And I am confident that today’s meeting will help us build on this positive momentum and I invite new opportunities. Once again, Honorable Secretary, welcome to Uzbekistan, and now it is my pleasure to give the floor to you, sir. SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, thank you for hosting us this week, for hosting all of us here this week for these important meetings. We view the – the United States views the relationship between Uzbekistan and Central Asia as paramount to our national security and to our economic prosperity. Under President Trump and under the respective leaders of the five countries, we’ve fostered a very strong relationship over the last 11 years that has yielded great accomplishments for our nations and tangible results for our people. So since last November – when we had the C5+1 presidential summit – just since last November we’ve secured over $25 billion in commercial arrangements and deals between the United States and Central Asian countries, and we plan to pursue more than $100 billion more in planned trade and investment. Over the past 10 years we’ve seen the U.S. private sector become increasingly focused on opportunities presented by the rapidly growing economies of your country and of the region – build on market liberalization reform. For example, we’re proud Uzbekistan has agreed to participate in our country’s aerospace industry and purchase 22 Boeing Dreamliners – 22 Boeing Dreamliners. At the same time, Uzbekistan is also investing in the United States. Last year AKFA Aluminum invested 80 million in an aluminum processing facility in Kentucky. It became the first Uzbek manufacturer to operate in the United States. We signed a bilateral critical minerals MOU together, and we’re making progress in securing key supplies of uranium and other natural resources. And we’ve also created a joint Business and Investment Council to enable greater U.S. exports and business opportunities in Uzbekistan, bringing major U.S. companies like Apple and Google and PepsiCo to the region. And these are just a few of the highlights in a long list of successful deals and commercial arrangements, and we want to build on this outstanding relationship and do more. And that, frankly, is why we’re here today. And it took weeks to plan and put this together, but at the C5+1 Ministerial we’re looking forward to putting into action the commitments we’ve made over the last year. So we want to continue to work on aligning our regulations, on building transportation infrastructure, on using trusted advanced technology, and on growing the region’s workforce so that all American companies who want to do business here have professional partners. We want to see this region continue to thrive into the 21st century as a hub of commercial diplomacy, because it is in our interest – because it is our interest from both an economic standpoint and from a security standpoint as well. Each country here at this ministerial is a unique, sovereign nation with its own interests. We at the Trump Administration and the President understands that and he respects that. We want – what we want to accomplish at this meeting this week will put our countries further down the path of long-term prosperity and security. We’re excited to work with you. We’re excited to work with all of our Central Asian partners to address the challenges and the opportunities of this era as we work together. So thank you. FOREIGN MINISTER SAIDOV: Thank you very much.

## Key details

- Author/spokesperson: Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
- Published: 19 Oct 2026
- Publisher country: United States
- Subject country/region: National (United States)

Original source: https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesman/2026/10/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-and-uzbekistan-foreign-minister-bakhtiyor-saidov/
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