Trump touts multibillion-dollar deals with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan as EU tries to push through TRIPP
You can add Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to Donald Trump’s “highly respected” leader list, Eurasianet writes.
Trump in a couple of blasts from his Truth Social account singled out the Uzbek and Kazakh leaders for praise after their respective countries signed major contracts with US firms. The deals can provide a major boost for the Middle Corridor, an emerging trade network designed to strengthen connections between Central Asia and Western markets.
Trump hailed Uzbekistan specifically for agreeing to buy almost two dozen Boeing 787 Dreamliners, a deal worth over $8 billion. The US president claimed purchase would create “over 35,000 jobs” in the United States.
“President Mirziyoyev is a man of his word, and we will continue to work together on many more items! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump clucked on Truth Social.
Mirziyoyev, in New York on September 22 in connection with the UN General Assembly, was busy working on more deals, and also meeting with Trump’s special representative Sergio Gor, who was born in the Uzbek capital Tashkent. An Uzbek presidential statement about the meeting hinted that the topic of a Trump visit to Central Asia was discussed. “Plans for upcoming events were also considered,” the statement concluded cryptically.
The biggest US deal with Kazakhstan concerns $4.2 billion worth of freight railroad equipment, including locomotives. “Congratulations to President Tokayev on his great purchase,” Trump stated in a separate Truth Social post.
Elsewhere, the Middle Corridor appears to have received a boost from the European Union. EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, back from a tour of the South Caucasus, announced a 202.5-million-euro aid package for Armenia. The funds are ostensibly earmarked to promote “reforms and socio-economic resilience.” However, local media reports indicate that a significant chunk of the funding will be devoted to developing the Trump Route for Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a key provision in the provisional peace deal signed in August by Azerbaijan and Armenia in Washington.
Kos indicated that promoting peace in the Caucasus via expanded trade was an EU objective.
“The EU strongly supports the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process and stands ready to invest in regional connectivity,” an EU statement quoted her as saying.
