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Pompeo arrives in Tashkent to take part in C5+1 ministerial meeting

The program of Pompeo’s visit includes talks with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov

TASHKENT, February 2. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has arrived in Uzbekistan’s capital city Tashkent to hold talks on bilateral and regional cooperation and take part in a ministerial meeting in the C5+1 (Central Asia-USA) format, the Uzbekforeign ministry said on Sunday.

"US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has arrived in Uzbekistan," the ministry said.

The program of Pompeo’s visit includes talks with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov.

Earlier, the US top diplomat visited Minsk and Nur-Sultan where he had talks with Presidents Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan and his Belarusian and Kazakh counterparts, Vladimir Makey and Mukhtar Tleuberdi.

The C5+1 (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the United States) multilateral forum was established in November 2015 at a ministerial meeting in Samarkand with a goal of expanding intra-regional cooperation and Central Asia’s relations with the United States.

Participants in the format highly assess its potential. However experts say the United States is using this format to expand its influence in that region, ultimately seeking to squeeze Russia and China out of it.

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