It is speculated that US President Donald Trump will attend the meeting.

Washington will host Central Asian leaders on November 6.

According to reports, five Central Asian country presidents will gather in Washington D.C. on November 6 to attend the C5+1 Summit. It is speculated that US President Donald Trump will also attend the event. The C5+1 mechanism was initiated by the Obama administration in 2015 and will mark its tenth anniversary on November 1.

Following a meeting with then-US President Joe Biden during the UN General Assembly in 2023, this summit is likely to be the second presidential-level C5+1 summit. It may also be the first time that the presidents of the five Central Asian countries meet with the US president in the capital city of the United States.

Central Asian country presidents rarely receive red carpet treatment in Washington. Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is the only Central Asian president who has been invited to the White House for an official visit while in office (in 2018).

Last week, when The Diplomat magazine asked the US Department of State whether there would be a meeting to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the C5+1, a US State Department official replied, "We look forward to commemorating the ten-year partnership between the United States and Central Asian countries through the C5+1 diplomatic platform, and to strengthening cooperation between our two countries." The official added, "We will inform you of any confirmed diplomatic arrangements."

On October 26, the Kazakhstani presidential news office disclosed the information about the C5+1 summit in a post on X. The post stated that Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had given a positive response to Trump's invitation to attend the Washington summit.

The post said, "President Tokayev considers the initiative of the US leader timely and important," and added that Tokayev "agrees with the core principles of President Trump's domestic and foreign policies, especially advocating traditional values based on common sense, as well as committing to maintaining peace and security."

On October 27, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan media confirmed that the presidents of both countries will also travel to Washington to attend the summit on November 6. On October 27, the Tajik newspaper Asia Plus reported, "The Tajik president's press office has not yet reported whether Emomali Rahmon has received such an invitation." As of the time of this article, Turkmenistan's national media have not yet reported on the summit.

Previously, on October 20, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's South and Central Asia Subcommittee, and Bill Hu, the chair of the committee, a Republican representative from Michigan, jointly wrote to the Trump administration, "urging the Trump administration to host and personally attend the C5+1 leaders' summit in Washington D.C. this year."

Amid the announcement of the summit, the US special envoy for South and Central Asia, Sergio Gor, and the Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, are currently visiting Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Gor, born in Uzbekistan during the Soviet era (although he once seemed to avoid this issue), served as the director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, which prompted The Washington Post to call him "perhaps the most powerful person you've never heard of" in December 2024. In August, Gor was nominated by Trump to be the US ambassador to India (confirmed in early October) and was appointed as the special envoy for South and Central Asia.

The C5+1 has become an important framework for the United States' engagement with the region. The mechanism was launched at a ministerial-level summit held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on November 1, 2015, attended by then-US Secretary of State John Kerry. The mechanism is mainly managed by the US Department of State. In an effort to expand its influence in the region, the United States engages with Central Asian countries through collective rather than bilateral means, as the Afghan war gradually subsides and Russia and China become more active. The C5+1 aligns perfectly with the multi-dimensional foreign policy of most Central Asian countries, especially after the death of Uzbekistan's first president, Islam Karimov, who followed an isolationist policy in 2016, leading to increased engagement of Central Asian countries with regional cooperation through the C5+1.

Many ministerial meetings and one presidential summit so far have been held during the UN General Assembly. However, 2025 is not the case. The UN General Assembly convened again and again, but it did not mention the C5+1 at all.

In fact, before the Kazakhstani president revealed the information, it was unclear whether anything would take place to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the mechanism, especially given the ongoing government shutdown in the US government and Trump's well-known preference for bilateral relations over multilateral participation. That said, if there is any region that reflects Trump's other preferences - top-down decision-making, personality cult, and grand structures - it is none other than Central Asia.

This unexpected development is undoubtedly an important milestone for the region's relationship with the United States, highlighting the shift in US foreign policy under the Trump administration and the unique opportunities that come with it.

Source: The Diplomat

Author: Katherine Putz, Contributing Writer, Executive Editor of The Diplomat

Date: October 28

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7566162687705596468/

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