“C5+1” Business Conference Held in Washington with the Participation of Companies from Central Asian Countries and the United States

November 6, 2025 – As part of the visit of President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to the United States, a jubilee “C5+1” business conference was held, marking the 10th anniversary of the partnership between the Central Asian countries and the United States.

The event, hosted at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, brought together representatives of governments, national companies, and leading businesses from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the United States. The main theme of the conference was the expansion of trade, economic, and investment cooperation between Central Asia and the United States.

Representatives of Kazakhstan’s public and private sectors – including Samruk-Kazyna, JSC NMH Baiterek, KAZ Minerals, Qarmet, Freedom Holding Corp., Bilim Media Group, AIFC, Tau-Ken Samruk, and Port Kuryk (Semurg Invest) – attended the conference, among others.

Participants discussed opportunities for attracting U.S. investment into Kazakhstan’s and Central Asia’s infrastructure, energy, and innovation projects; expanding exports of rare earth metals, metal products, and agricultural goods to the U.S. market; as well as developing digital and financial technologies.

The forum featured five thematic sessions focused on supply chain development, the use of artificial intelligence, the digital economy, and investment opportunities in the U.S. and Central Asia.

Kazakhstan co-moderated the session on digital economy development, which discussed prospects for digitalization, artificial intelligence integration, cybersecurity, and cross-border online services. The Kazakh delegation included representatives of Kaspi.kz, ERG, BTS Digital, Air Astana, and other companies.

Participants emphasized that Kazakhstan continues to strengthen its position as an IT hub of Eurasia. Global technology leaders such as Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and Starlink are already operating in the country, while joint initiatives with Meta and Amazon aim to develop satellite internet and create a Kazakh-language artificial intelligence model.

During the panel discussions, it was highlighted that Astana remains Washington’s key trade and economic partner in Central Asia, accounting for over 60% of the region’s GDP and 75% of its trade with the United States. Since independence, Kazakhstan has attracted more than 100 billion dollars in U.S. investment, and the country’s share in total investment across Central Asia exceeds 80%.

Alongside the expansion of American capital in Kazakhstan, the conference also addressed Kazakh investment initiatives in the United States. 1Thirty Holding presented a 130-million-dollar chemical complex project for powder-coating production, the first industrial investment by Kazakhstan in the U.S. In addition, abr+ announced plans to open a network of AUYL restaurants across the country.

During President Tokayev’s visit, 29 bilateral documents were signed between Kazakhstan and the United States, with a total value of around 17 billion dollars. The agreements cover industry, energy, education, digitalization, and innovation, representing a significant step toward strengthening the strategic partnership and deepening economic cooperation between the two countries.

We will have to see from Kazakstan if they believe they’ve joined the Abraham Accords or not.  We’ve often seen major announcements from the White House that are not true or fizzles out.

The second set of reporting available now, is about Uzbekistan.

First question:  Does Uzbekistan even have that amount of money to invest?  I’m not an economist but something is extraordinary here.  US$35 Billion Dollars investment?  Uzbekistan’s total Exports in 2024 were valued at US$31.86 Billion, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade. Uzbekistan’s main export partners were: Russia, China and Kazakhstan. The top export commodities were: Pearls, precious stones, metals, coins; cotton and mineral fuels, oils, distillation products. Total Imports were valued at US$55.52 Billion. In 2024, Uzbekistan had a trade deficit of US$23.67 Billion.

We’ve seen the 35 Billion before, and that was with the negotiations with South Korea.  We’ve also seen Ursula von der Leyden agree to some incredible amount of investment, and when she arrived back in Brussels, she said they could not do it.

I’ll update you on what we find, but it’s similar to the Pick a Number Games.  It becomes stranger, as four of the stans are SCO members and Kazakhstan holds the chair currently as Secretary-General.

Turkmenistan has previously declared itself a permanently neutral country, which was recognised by a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1995, thus ostensibly precluding its membership in the SCO.  Turkmenistan’s head of state has been attending SCO summits since 2007 as a guest attendee.

The C5+1 is viewed as an attempt by the United States to gain influence in the Central Asian states countering Russia where U.S.–Russian relations have worsened since 2014, and what the U.S. has perceived as being Russia’s ambitions to restore the Soviet Union.  The last ‘annual’ summit was held in 2021.

Another strange issue that I noticed, looking for a picture to use, is that the Kazakhstan Foreign Office has none, not one, with Trump.  This press release is newer than the one I quoted above and there are some details of the deal:  https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/mfa/press/news/details/1100966   

What is real?  We cannot say. We don’t even have a category for this post, and it is in category “uncategorized”.   Best we have is to go and rewatch the mockumentary or shockumentary, Borat. (Forgive us, Kazakstan!)  https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/borat/reviews