It appears that the Trump administration’s single-minded pursuit of critical minerals is starting to bear fruit in Central Asia.
According to an Uzbek government statement April 9, meetings in Washington involving Uzbek Investment Ministry officials and US business executives yielded several agreements covering the exploration, extraction and processing of minerals in the Central Asian state. The deals also reportedly cover the provision of innovative US technologies to Tashkent, and the training of Uzbek specialists.
“The agreements were formalized by contracts,” the statement adds. “A manager was assigned to each project.”
Neither US nor Uzbek officials to date have revealed the value of the contracts signed, or the entities involved.
The announcement occurred amid a flurry of diplomatic contacts in Washington between the United States and Uzbekistan, including an April 9 meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Uzbek counterpart, Bakhtiyor Saidov. In summarizing the discussions, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce lauded bilateral cooperation in the “critical minerals and other sectors,” adding that the US will also work with Tashkent “on the modernization of safe nuclear technologies.”
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