Overview

• Meloni signed agreements totaling more than €7 billion—around €3 billion with Uzbekistan and nearly €5 billion with Kazakhstan—covering energy, critical raw materials, infrastructure, migration and research domains.
• The Italy-Uzbekistan pacts include 14 memoranda of understanding spanning nuclear energy cooperation, university campuses in Tashkent, cultural exchanges and the symbolic naming of a “Via Roma” in Samarkand.
• At the first Italy–Central Asia leaders summit in Astana, Meloni underscored Italy’s pioneering role as the first EU country to forge a strategic partnership with Central Asian republics and championed deeper EU-Central Asia dialogue.
• Responding to initial reports of exclusion, Meloni confirmed Italy’s participation in upcoming Ukraine peace negotiations and proposed a broad framework agreement to streamline complex EU-US trade discussions.
• She downplayed recent France-Italy frictions, dismissing media hype as “excess of fuss,” and welcomed President Macron’s upcoming visit to Rome to reinforce allied cooperation.