FOREIGN MINISTER SAIDOV: Honorable Secretary of State, dear fellow ministers, ladies and gentlemen, it's my great pleasure to welcome you to the very heart of Central Asia, to the ancient and hospitable city of Samarkand, for this historic C5+ ministerial meeting between Central Asia and the United States. With your permission, I hereby declare our meeting open. Before we begin our discussions, I would like to invite you to watch a short video highlighting the state of our partnership and the journey we have taken together. Please.
(A video was played.)
(Applause.)
FOREIGN MINISTER SAIDOV: Thank you. Dear colleagues, first of all, Mr. Secretary, it's a distinct pleasure and honor to welcome you to Uzbekistan on your first - in the entire region - on your first visit as U.S. Secretary of State. We sincerely appreciate your personal commitment and the dedicated efforts of your team to strengthen the strategic partnership between our countries. We also highlighted the special attention that President Donald Trump has devoted to Central Asia and the growing opportunities for cooperation with our region.
In this regard, we are particularly pleased with the friendly and trust-based dialogue established between the presidents of Uzbekistan and Central Asian countries and United States, which has opened a new chapter in our relations. It is symbolic that we have gathered once again in Samarkand, where the very first C5+1 Ministerial meeting took place in 2015. Since then, our partnership has come a long way. Its agenda has expanded and its mechanisms of cooperation have grown stronger.
Yet, even more profound changes have taken place within Central Asia itself. Central Asia has grown stronger, more united, and increasingly capable of shaping its own future and contributing to international affairs. We firmly believe that a strong, stable, and prosperous Central Asia serves the interest of all our countries and our international partners. We deeply value the United States' consistent support for the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of our countries.
Today we have an opportunity to give the C5+ partnership a new strategic dimension. The next stage of our cooperation should focus not only on expanding bilateral ties, but also on unlocking Central Asia's potential as an integrated region of new opportunities. This means strengthening economic connectivity, attracting advanced technologies and investment, and expanding of our access to global markets. Our partnership with the United States should complement regional cooperation and deliver lasting benefits to all our countries.
I would like to express our sincere appreciation to Turkmenistan for its productive co-chairmanship of the C5+1 Secretariat in 2025-2026. This period was marked by important developments, including high-level engagement, an investor business forum, and new initiatives in culture and emerging technologies. As Uzbekistan assumes the co-chairmanship, we intend to build on these achievements, ensure consistency, and focus on translating our agreements into practical results. As one of our key priorities, we propose advancing a strategic partnership in critical minerals from geological exploration and mineral processing to the establishment of local industrial clusters.
Honorable ministers, Central Asia has abundant resources, growing markets, human capital, and a strategically important geographic position. The United States brings advanced technologies, investment capital, and world-class entrepreneurial expertise. Our shared task is to bring these strengths together and build an enduring partnership that delivers tangible benefits to our peoples.
For centuries, Samarkand has connected peoples, markets, knowledge, and ideas. Today we have an opportunity to give this historic role a new purpose, bringing Central Asia and the United States closer together. I hope today's meeting will mark an important step toward that future.
Distinguished colleagues, it's now my great pleasure to invite the U.S. Secretary of State, the Honorable Marco Rubio, to deliver his opening remarks. Please.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, thank you. And thank you for hosting all of us here this week on this historic and momentous occasion. Central Asia is, in our view - I think the view of the world - it's the heartland of both Asia and Europe. Historically, Central Asia has been the crossroads for trade between the West and the East. And today, as part of our broader renaissance in global engagement, it stands once again to play that vital role in transnational commerce.
But Central Asia also serves as a new location for investment, and it serves as a new location for export, a central terminal out of which materials that are vital for the future of all nations are being delivered. We in the United States, we seek to secure our critical industries and the supply chains that support them so that we may be a sovereign, independent country and economy, and not ever have to rely on risky foreign partners or even adversaries.
And this forum, the C5+1, represents not only America's interest in - but America's commitment to - fostering closer, peaceful relations with Central Asian countries. Together, we can secure for our countries the resources, the investment opportunities, and the trade partnerships we need to remain - each of us - sovereign states, and to grow together our collective prosperity.
Last year at the C5+1 in Washington, which I was honored to be a part of, was a true milestone for all of our countries. That meeting alone - that meeting alone last year at the White House - yielded $25 billion in new deals, strengthening our transportation, energy, and finance sectors, among other crucial national pillars. Together, President Trump and your respective leaders committed to fostering a regulatory and a labor landscape conducive to increasing commerce and increasing investment.
And this week we're working to further those commitments. We're going to enhance the infrastructure of the trans-Caspian trade route and give our partners more ways to reach American and Central Asian markets. We're going to work to secure our energy future by driving integrated, high-value supply chains in our critical minerals dialogue. We're going to prepare thousands of young professionals to use and support leading American technology in Central Asia's growing tech sectors. And through the 5+1 Forum - B5+1 Forum - we will facilitate public-private dialogue that greatly increases two-way trade and investment between our countries.
This group has an opportunity to partner and radically grow our countries in ways unseen in recent history. The countries gathered here this week are all unique, sovereign, independent states with distinct cultures and distinct interests, all in charge of their own destinies. We in the United States want to see them thrive as independent states, and we want to partner with them as they do so.
We are grateful for your openness. We are extremely proud of the success this group has brought our nation so far, and we're looking forward to the outcome - the outcomes of this week's meetings, and all the peaceful prosperity and growth that will come from our nations working together going forward. Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER SAIDOV: Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your warm remarks and strong commitment to developing a long-term partnership with Central Asia. At this point, I would like to kindly ask the members of the press to leave the room so that I may proceed our discussions.
