US provides $15 mn to five Central Asian countries

Moscow, Aug 4 (IANS) The US has agreed to provide five Central Asian countries with up to $15 million in aid to boost trade, support renewable energy projects and help them counter terrorism, the American embassy in Uzbekistan said in a statement on Thursday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in Washington on Wednesday.

The ministerial level meeting of the so-called C5+1 group was the second meeting of its type, and was aimed at discussing mutually-agreed projects in the fields of trade, transport, business climate, renewable energy sources, the fight against terrorism, as well as the trafficking of weapons, illicit drugs and people, Sputnik news agency reported.

"At the second C5+1 ministerial meeting, which was held in Washington in August 2016, six ministers have agreed to launch five projects, which the United States plan to support by up to $15 million dollars," the embassy said in a statement.

According to the statement, special attention was given to prevent the radicalisation of people living in Central Asia.

In November 2015, Kerry and the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian countries held a meeting in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, where they agreed to create a new platform for regular political dialogue among the C5+1 countries.