U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been awarded Uzbekistan’s Order for Outstanding Services, while Sergio Gor, the U.S. President’s Special Envoy for South and Central Asian Affairs, has received the Order of Friendship.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington has neglected Central Asia for too long and wants to become a lasting partner of the region, as he addressed the second meeting of the American-Uzbekistan Business and Investment Council on Monday evening.

On the evening of Oct. 19, a transformer protection system tripped at the Aksa Tashkent thermal power plant in Kibray district, Tashkent province, cutting the plant’s output from 460 megawatts to 185 MW.

Executives of India’s Larsen & Toubro, Adani Group and Reliance Industries have been briefed on investment projects in New Tashkent. They were presented with proposals for engineering infrastructure, centralized heating, housing, and shopping and entertainment centers.

The President Shavkat Mirziyoyev took part in the opening of the second meeting of the American-Uzbekistan Business and Investment Council Monday.

Speaking to reporters during the visit to Registan Square in Samarkand, the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today that Washington had no intention of lecturing Central Asian countries which nations they should cooperate with.

The Foreign Ministers of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan and the US Secretary of State signed a joint statement following a ministerial meeting in the C5+1 format in Samarkand today, Oct. 19. The document sets out priorities for cooperation between Central Asian countries and the United States.

Global telecoms group VEON has agreed to acquire 100% of Rubicon Wireless, which operates in Uzbekistan under the Perfectum brand, the company said in a statement today.

Central Asian countries can together secure the resources, investment and trade partnerships needed to preserve their sovereignty and raise shared prosperity, the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today at the C5+1 Ministerial Meeting.

Uzbekistan proposed critical minerals as a key priority for cooperation between Central Asia and the United States, Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov said in his remarks today at the meeting of the Central Asian Foreign Ministers and the U.S. Secretary of State in Samarkand.

Google Pay, the payment service that lets users pay with Google Wallet on Android phones, has been launched in Uzbekistan.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio answered journalists’ questions about the war in Ukraine in Samarkand on Oct. 19. He said no one will win the war.

Uzbekistan and the United States will expand cooperation in space, infrastructure and critical minerals. "Met with Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Saidov and discussed deepening U.S.-Uzbek strategic partnership including our cooperation in infrastructure, space, critical minerals and through the C5+1 diplomatic platform", Marco Rubio said on X after the talks with the Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov. 

Dry and relatively warm weather will persist across Uzbekistan through the working week, with temperatures in line with seasonal norms, weather agency Uzhydromet said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who arrived in Samarkand a day earlier, visited the historic Registan Square on Monday and said the United States wants to be a reliable partner for Central Asia.

An information session on social support measures and opportunities to improve energy efficiency took place in Tashkent as part of the World Bank’s Innovative Carbon Resource Application for Energy Transition Project for Uzbekistan (iCRAFT) for energy sector reform.

Uzbekistan’s permanent population stood at 39,535,225 as of Oct. 1, 2026, the National Statistics Committee said. The committee noted that the figure takes census results into account.

Air quality in Tashkent has reached the “red,” or unhealthy, level. As of 9 a.m. today on Oct. 19, a monitoring station in the capital recorded an AQI of 153.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reviewed construction progress on a bridge over the Karadarya River during a visit to Samarkand province, the president’s press office said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Samarkand with his wife on Sunday evening, on his first visit to Central Asia, ahead of a day of diplomatic and business meetings on Monday.