Rubio plans to visit Central Asian states

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he planned to visit the five Central Asian countries in the coming year, as he met their foreign ministers.

The presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday for talks that are likely to include discussions of rare earths minerals and other resources in the Central Asian nations.

Rubio said at the State Department that U.S. interests and those of the Central Asian states were aligned when it comes to working together to develop the countries' natural resources.

“I personally intend to visit in the coming year. All five, so I know it would probably be a week-long trip. So we’ve got to work on that and make that happen together," Rubio said.