The next Central Asia – USA (C5+1) high-level meeting was held today in Tashkent on the sidelines of the International Conference entitled Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity, Challenges and Opportunities.

According to the Tajik MFA information department the Foreign Ministers (FMs) of Tajikistan (Sirojiddin Muhriddin), Kazakhstan (Mukhtar Tileuberdi), Turkmenistan (Rashid Meredov), Uzbekistan (Abdulaziz Kamilov) and First Deputy Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan Nuran Niyazaliev and the Homeland Security Advisor to the US President, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, participated in the meeting.

The parties reportedly discussed the expansion of economic cooperation and strengthening regional security and stability.

The C5+1 is a format for dialogue and a platform for joint efforts to address common challenges faced by the United States and the five Central Asian states.

The first C5+1 ministerial meeting took place in Samarqand (Uzbekistan) in November 2015.  The six foreign ministers agreed to focus on three sectors of common interest – security, economics, and environmental challenges.

Since the inception of the C5+1 dialogue, the Central Asian countries have been increasingly interested in regional approaches and view the C5+1 as a catalyst for common action.