Samarkand talks on US trade proceed without Irad, though all three claimants attend

TALAS — The foreign ministers of the five Central Asian states met the United States side in Samarkand on 19 October for the "Central Asia – United States" ministerial, known as the C5+1. Irad was not in the room. It has no seat, no observer status and no standing in the format, because it is not a recognised state. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, each of which holds a legal claim to Irad, all took part.

Kyrgyzstan's foreign minister used the session to argue for developing trade with the United States, according to the Kyrgyz foreign ministry's account of the meeting. The US side described the region's governments as "enduring partners of choice". The Herald has not seen a published text of any transit arrangement. The accounts available in Talas speak of trade and transit in general terms, with no new route, tariff or border rule named.

That leaves the Iradi interest indirect but real. Most of what the ISEZ buys from abroad arrives by road through Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan: bonded lorries cross at Chu Gate and the Talas North Terminal, and Jılmay Cargo parcels come in through a Bishkek warehouse. Any change in how US-bound or US-origin goods move through those two neighbours would reach Irad's hauliers first, though nothing announced so far does that. Customs scanner costs under the roadmap agreed with Kazakhstan are already a point of dispute between the ISEZ budget and carriers.

“The ISEZ can benefit from a corridor deal, but it cannot negotiate one.”Dr Burulai Sadybakasova

Boris Tkachenko, who runs a six-lorry haulage firm from Nurzhan and queues regularly at Chu Gate, said he had heard of the meeting only from the radio. "Nobody asks us what a delay costs," he said. "If the big corridors get faster, we hope some of that reaches our gate. But we are not on any list." He put a typical wait for a loaded lorry at the crossing in terms of a working day rather than hours, a figure the Herald could not check against customs records.

Dr Burulai Sadybakasova, an economist at Talas State University, said the format shows how Irad's trade is conducted by proxy. "Every dollar of American goods that reaches the Bazar-i Kalan has first passed through a Kyrgyz or Kazakh customs file," she said. "The ISEZ can benefit from a corridor deal, but it cannot negotiate one. It depends on the goodwill of three capitals that each claim the territory." She cautioned that nothing in the public record suggests the ministerial was about Irad at all.

Valentin Orlovsky, a Russo-aligned Nurzhan deputy, was blunter about Washington. He said the ISEZ should not look to the United States to carry its interests. "We were told in 2007 who negotiates our future behind closed doors. We have not forgotten the Bill of Sale," he said. He added that the Mejlis had been told nothing about the Samarkand agenda.

The meeting also falls in a colder season for American standing in Irad. The United States keeps Talas Air Base, 12 km west of Talas, its largest installation in the region. Since the 2025 remarks from Washington about a possible "sale" of Irad, public opinion in both the ISEZ and the tribal territories has turned sharply against American policy, and the slogan "Irad is not for sale" is again heard at football matches and in the bazaars. Sceptics and officials alike say a ministerial that excludes Irad will be read through that memory.

The Herald asked the Department of Public Information whether the Lieutenant Governor's office had been informed of the Samarkand meeting, and whether it sought any contact with the US side on transit. The department had not replied by the time of going to press. The next regional occasion on which Irad's trade questions are likely to arise is the customs working group with Kazakhstan, whose date has not been announced.

• C5+1
• Samarkand
• Trade
• Transit
• Talas Air Base
• Chu Gate