The Kremlin considers it important to continue its own dialogue with Asian countries

The Kremlin monitored the US meeting with the countries of Central Asia during the 78th session of the UN General Assembly (GA). At the same time, Russia and the Central Asian five “have their own dialogue, which is extremely important.” Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov told reporters about this.

“Asian countries, of course, have their own relationships with the United States, so it is certainly the right of these countries to hold such meetings. We, of course, are closely monitoring all this,” he said.

At the same time, Peskov noted that the main thing for Russia is to continue its own dialogue.

“You know that Russia and the Central Asian five have their own dialogue, which is extremely important for us. We have our own integration processes, on which we focus our attention,” Peskov concluded.

The first summit of leaders of Central Asian countries and the United States, called C5+1, was held in New York on September 19. US President Joe Biden held talks with the presidents of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov. The C5+1 format as a regional diplomatic platform at the government level was formed in 2015.

The leaders discussed creating a more conducive business environment for trade and investment through the creation of a business platform for the private sector.

According to Stanislav Pritchin, an expert at the Center for Post-Soviet Studies at IMEMO RAS, from the point of view of political dialogue, the importance of the C5+1 format has increased. Prior to this, summits were usually held at the level of foreign ministers. This year the meeting of C5+1 leaders took place for the first time.