TASHKENT (Sputnik) — Kerry is currently on his first Central Asia tour, taking place on October 28-November 3, and is due to visit Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The US diplomat is to conduct bilateral discussions with senior government leaders in each country.
"US Secretary of State is scheduled to meet with President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov," the ministry's press service said.
As for the ministerial talks, they will be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan's second-largest city. The regional issues of mutual interest, particularly the situation in Afghanistan, will be high on the agenda of the meeting.
According to the US Embassy in Uzbekistan, the meeting, which Washington calls a C5+1 initiative to engage with Central Asia, is new, and was proposed earlier this year.
On Saturday, Kerry visited Kyrgyzstan, where he held talks with the country’s leadership, and participated in the opening of a new campus of the American University of Central Asia, as well as the new building of the US embassy in Kyrgyzstan.
