Trump to Host His First Summit with Central Asian Leaders

AFP/APP

Almaty, Kazakhstan: US President Donald Trump will host all five Central Asian leaders in Washington on Thursday for the first time, just months after they held separate summits with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.

The West has stepped up its engagement with the resource-rich region, where Moscow’s traditional influence has been in question since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, and where China continues to expand its economic footprint.

Race for Influence

Since the start of the Ukraine war, the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have increased diplomatic contacts with other countries through the so-called “C5+1” format.

Washington and the European Union have intensified their outreach to the landlocked states that gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, following up on the first US–Central Asia summit in 2023.

Russia, China, the West, and Turkey are all vying for influence in the region.

This year, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have each visited Central Asia for high-level meetings with the five national leaders.

With many regional conflicts now subdued, the Central Asian states have started presenting a more united diplomatic front.

China, which borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, has positioned itself as a major commercial partner, investing heavily in infrastructure through its Belt and Road Initiative.

While the ex-Soviet republics still view Moscow as a strategic ally, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has heightened their concerns.

Meanwhile, Turkey has leveraged its cultural and linguistic ties to deepen military and trade relations, capitalizing on Russia’s distraction.

The West first built limited ties with Central Asia in the early 2000s, when US and NATO forces operated from bases there during the war in Afghanistan.

Resource-Rich Region

The United States and European Union are increasingly drawn by Central Asia’s vast but largely untapped natural resources, as they seek to diversify rare earth supplies and reduce dependence on China.

Beyond rare earths, Kazakhstan is the world’s largest uranium producer, Uzbekistan boasts vast gold reserves, and Turkmenistan is rich in natural gas. The mountainous nations of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are also exploring new mineral deposits.

Russia remains deeply entrenched in the regional energy sector, supplying hydrocarbons via Soviet-era pipelines and building nuclear power plants.

At the same time, Central Asia faces severe environmental challenges, ranking among the world’s most polluted regions and suffering acute water shortages due to climate change.

Complicated Logistics

Despite abundant resources, exploitation remains difficult in these impoverished, landlocked nations marked by rugged terrain and limited infrastructure.

Nearly as large as the European Union but home to only about 75 million people, Central Asia is encircled by countries with strained relations with the West — Russia to the north, China to the east, and Iran and Afghanistan to the south.

Historically a key stop along the Silk Road, the region is striving to reclaim its role as a trade corridor.

The five Central Asian republics are pursuing new partnerships to reduce reliance on Moscow. Both Beijing and Brussels back the Trans-Caspian Transport Route, linking Central Asia to Europe through the Caucasus and bypassing Russia.

Between 2021 — just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and 2024, cargo movement along this route surged by 660 percent, official statistics show.

Muffled Human Rights

For Trump, who has often expressed admiration for authoritarian leaders, economic cooperation has taken precedence over promoting democratic values in Central Asia.

While the region has opened its doors to tourism and foreign investment, rights groups warn of a deepening crackdown on civil liberties.

Human Rights Watch urged the US to ensure that human rights remain on the agenda during the summit.

“The summit is taking place while all participating governments have increased efforts to stifle dissent, silence the media, and retaliate against critics at home and abroad,” HRW said in a statement Monday.

Central Asian nations rank near the bottom of the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, with Turkmenistan — one of the world’s most secretive states — listed 174th out of 180 countries.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have welcomed Trump’s decision to dismantle US media outlet Radio Free Europe, one of the region’s last sources of independent information.