Uzmetronom.com, a semi-official online news service often serving as a sounding board for official Uzbek perspectives and news leaks, seems to think President Karimov will meet "with his American counterpart," i.e. President Barack Obama. The meeting is supposedly scheduled for September 21 at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, but there's no indication of this from the State Department.
Such encounters often consist merely of a handshake and a few minutes of face time with the U.S. leader in the corridors of UNGA, and sometimes this can be described by aspiring world leaders as "a meeting".
Numerous heads of state are expected to descend on New York today through Wednesday for the annual General Assembly, which is set to assess progress on the Millenium Development Goals among other topics. As in previous years, the area is under maximum security with police boats lining the East River and traffic diverted from the UN area of First Avenue and E. 42nd Street.
In the past year, Uzbek officials have repeatedly floated the story of a supposed trip to Uzbekistan by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has no evident plans to travel to Central Asia. Her rumored appearance was part of a wishlist for bilateral relations that perhaps the government thought might help bring into reality by publicizing it.
President Karimov did get a telephone call from President Obama to congratulate him on Uzbekistan's Independence Day. And the Uzbek leader spoke with Secretary Clinton on June 17 about ways to cooperate in responding to the violence in southern Kyrgyzstan.
The U.S. has praised President Karimov's restraint and efficient handling of the refugee crisis and has been grateful for his assistance to international relief organizations. The U.S. has also increasingly improved relations with Uzbekistan, once broken over American criticisim of the Andijan massacre in 2005 and the subsequent expulsion of a U.S. base, with an eye to further involving Uzbekistan in providing support for the Northern Distribution Network to deliver supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. has also been talking about increasing military cooperation with Uzbekistan.
On his way to New York, President Karimov stopped in London September 19 and had meetings with Hartley Booth, co-chairman of the Uzbek-British Friendship Society and co-chairman of the Uzbek-British Council on Trade and Industry and John Waverly, chairman of the UK-Uzbekistan parliamentary group, ca-news.org reported.
Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.