SAMARKAND: (Uzbekistan): The United States wishes to be a “strong partner” for Central Asia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday, as he pushed for greater access for American companies during talks with regional leaders.

Before heading to India on a tour mixing diplomacy and commerce, Rubio arrived in Uzbekistan’s Silk Road city of Samarkand on Sunday for negotiations with top officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and his Uzbek hosts.

The leaders of the five former Soviet republics met US President Donald Trump at the White House in November last year, as the United States seeks stronger ties in a region with vast natural resources, but where China has emerged as a key competitor.

Heading a delegation including numerous business executives, Rubio visited Samarkand’s old city, a historic staging post between China and the West, before meeting regional leaders.

“The United States wants to be a strong partner in central Asia, obviously rooted in this country, but also all the neighbouring countries who want to do more business and trade with us,” he told journalists.

“We have an incredible delegation, almost 300 American businesses that are here with us, and the opportunity to sign billions of dollars of agreements that will both enrich the countries in the region, but also benefit the United States economically,” he said.

The State Department said the US and Uzbekistan had concluded more than 50 contracts worth a combined $12 billion in sectors like hi-tech, industrial modernisation, transport and energy.

With Washington stuck in a war with Iran and unable to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Rubio has stepped up his foreign travel with recent trips to Europe and Latin America, while leaving Trump to handle the conflicts and the US mid-term elections.

‘It’s competition’

But the secretary of state insisted this week’s tour is of strategic importance.

“This is an important relationship,” he said shortly before his departure.

“There’s countries you’d like to get to because we want to build our relationships with them.”

Asked whether Washington’s push in Central Asia was aimed at countering China’s growing influence, Rubio replied: “It’s competition. There’s no part of the world in which we feel like America and American business should not have a fair shot to compete.”

India deal

After Uzbekistan, Rubio will go to India where the US ambassador is Sergio Gor, who was born in Uzbekistan and is also the US special envoy for Central Asia.

The Central Asian states remain linked to Russia by energy pipelines and security and migratory networks, but Russian influence has eroded since the start of its invasion of Ukraine.

And China has reaped the benefits. It is now the main trade partner of all five nations.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2026