Trump to host Central Asian leaders amid race for influence in resource-rich region

US President Donald Trump will host all five Central Asian leaders in Washington on Thursday for the first time, a few months after they held separate summits with Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping.

The West has upped its interest with the resource-rich region, where Moscow's traditional influence has been questioned since the Kremlin's Ukraine invasion and where China is also a major player.

Race for influence

Since the Ukraine war, the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have stepped up contacts with other countries in the so-called "C5+1" format.

Washington and the European Union have intensified their diplomacy with the landlocked countries that gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, with a first US-Central Asia summit in 2023.

This year, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's leader Xi Jinping have all visited the region for summits with the five Central Asian leaders.

At the same time, ending most regional conflicts has enabled Central Asian countries to put on a united front in diplomacy.

China — which shares borders with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan — has presented itself as a main commercial partner, investing in huge infrastructure projects.

The ex-Soviet republics still see Moscow as a strategic partner but have been spooked by Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

The West established some ties with the region in the early 2000s, when Western troops used bases in Central Asia during Afghanistan campaigns.

The United States and European Union are drawn by the region's huge — but still mostly unexploited — natural resources as they try to diversify their rare earths supplies and reduce dependence on Beijing.
Other than rare earths, Kazakhstan is the world's largest uranium producer, Uzbekistan has giant gold reserves and Turkmenistan is rich in gas. Mountainous Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are also opening up new mineral deposits.

Russia remains firmly established in the region's energy sector, supplying hydrocarbons through Soviet-era infrastructure and building nuclear plants.

Central Asia is also one of the world's most polluted regions and hardest hit by climate change. All five countries have struggled with a shortage of water.