Kazakhstan initiated C5+1 diplomatic format, scholar says

September 27, 2026 at 09:47 PM3 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Kazakhstan, not the U.S. government, proposed the C5+1 diplomatic format that now anchors Washington's engagement with Central Asia, according to scholar S. Frederick Starr. Then-Ambassador Kairat Umarov raised the idea with U.S. officials in 2013, leading to the mechanism's launch in 2015. The format now includes five Central Asian states plus the United States and has expanded to presidential summits.

Key Facts

S. Frederick Starr identifies Kairat Umarov, then Kazakhstan's ambassador to Washington, as the diplomat who set the C5+1 process in motion.
In 2013, Umarov approached Nisha Biswal with the idea of a regular consultative mechanism between Washington and Central Asian governments.
Secretary of State John Kerry approved moving ahead with the concept after Biswal supported it.
A September 2014 policy paper, 'Looking Forward: Kazakhstan and the United States', called for a 'Central Asia Six Plus One' mechanism.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbek President Islam Karimov supported the proposal, with Karimov requesting Samarkand as the meeting venue.

Origins of the Proposal

S. Frederick Starr, founding chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, argues that the C5+1 proposal came from Kazakhstan rather than from inside the U.S. government. In a detailed account published on September 24, titled 'How C5+1 Came to Be', Starr identifies Kairat Umarov, then Kazakhstan's ambassador in Washington, as the diplomat who set the process in motion. Shortly after Umarov arrived in Washington, the two discussed the absence of a mechanism for the United States to deal with Central Asia collectively rather than through five separate bilateral relationships. In 2013, after consulting Astana, Umarov approached Nisha Biswal with the idea of creating a regular consultative mechanism between Washington and the governments of Central Asia. Biswal supported the proposal and took it to Secretary of State John Kerry, who approved moving ahead with the concept.

Policy Paper and Presidential Support

In September 2014, three Kazakh and three American authors, including Starr, published 'Looking Forward: Kazakhstan and the United States'. The study was prepared with support that included Kazakhstan's embassy in Washington and called specifically for establishment of a 'Central Asia Six Plus One' mechanism. The report argued that the United States lacked a regular platform for engaging Central Asia on a regional basis and proposed a U.S.-Central Asia/Afghanistan partnership. Starr says the proposal subsequently received support from Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Karimov wanted the Central Asian meeting held in Samarkand, an arrangement to which Astana and Washington agreed.

Evolution of the Format

Afghanistan was initially considered for inclusion, which would have produced a C6+1 format, but it was ultimately left outside the mechanism, resulting in the C5+1 grouping that exists today. C5+1 — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, plus the United States — has become Washington's principal diplomatic mechanism for engaging Central Asia as a region. It has expanded from meetings of foreign ministers to presidential summits and cooperation on trade, security, connectivity, energy and critical minerals. When U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio travels to Samarkand in mid-October, he is expected to meet the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian states under the C5+1 format. Rubio will be accompanied by representatives of more than 100 American companies, underscoring how far the platform has developed since its creation in 2015.