Washington DC, 24 February 2023 (TDI): Secretary of State of the United States (US), Antony Blinken will travel to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and India from 28 February to 3 March.
In Astana, Kazakhstan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken will participate in C5+1 Ministerial with the representative of each of the Central Asian States.
Throughout the visit, Antony Blinken will reaffirm the United States’ commitment to the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Central Asian countries.
He will also collaborate with the region on solutions to shared global challenges. More likely Secretary Blinken will urge Central Asian countries to support the cause of Ukrainian in the Russian-Ukraine conflict.
The C5+1 Ministerial meeting will also focus on enhancing economic, energy and environmental, and security cooperation among the US, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Furthermore, he will meet separately on the margins of the C5+1 ministerial with senior government officials from the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
He will discuss opportunities for bilateral and multilateral cooperation and advance the shared goal of a prosperous, secure, and democratic region.
Antony Blinken will then travel to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where he will meet with Uzbek Officials to further advance the partnership on a range of bilateral and multilateral issues.
G20 Summit 2023
After completing the visit to Central Asia, Secretary Blinken will travel to India on March 1 to attend the G20 summit. India took over the Presidency of the G20 on December 2022.
The G20 summit will focus on strengthening multilateralism and deepening cooperation on food security, sustainable development, counter-narcotics, global health, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and women empowerment.
Furthermore, Secretary Blinken will also meet with Indian Government officials and civil society to reaffirm and further strengthen the strong partnership.
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It is also expected that Secretary Blinken will discuss with his Indian counterparts to lay down the groundwork for the upcoming Quad Leaders’ summit in May 2023.
It will be the third annual leaders’ summit of Quad members Australia, Japan, India, and the US. Tokyo (Japan) hosted the last summit in May 2022.
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