The United States Department of State said on April 22 that the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu is traveling l travel to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on April 22-27.
In Bishkek, Assistant Secretary Lu is reportedly meeting with senior Kyrgyz government officials to further the bilateral and regional goals discussed during the fruitful United States-Kyrgyzstan Annual Bilateral Consultations in March.
Assistant Secretary Lu is also meeting with economic leaders and members of civil society to discuss ways in which the United States can better support the Kyrgyz creative economy, women’s economic empowerment, human rights, and press freedom.
Assistant Secretary Lu will then travel to Dushanbe to meet with senior government officials with the focus on deepening United States-Tajik partnership and discuss shared challenges and objectives including in the security sector.
Assistant Secretary Lu will also meet with members of the press and Tajik civil society to highlight the importance of press freedom and the need for a robust civil society.
While in both Bishkek and Dushanbe, Assistant Secretary Lu will emphasize the United States’ enduring commitment to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence.
Donald Lu (born 1966) is a Foreign Service Officer with more than 30 years of U.S. government service. He became Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs on September 15, 2021. Prior to this assignment, Assistant Secretary Lu served as the U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan from 2018 to 2021 and the U.S. Ambassador to Albania from 2015-2018. Before his posting in Albania, Assistant Secretary Lu worked on the Ebola crisis in West Africa as the Deputy Coordinator for Ebola Response in the Department of State.
Assistant Secretary Lu graduated from Princeton University with both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in international relations. He speaks Albanian, Russian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Urdu, Hindi, and West African Krio.
