The first Central Asia-Italy summit scheduled for April 27 in Astana has been postponed at the request of the Italian side. The reason for the postponement was the participation of Italian Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni in mourning events on the occasion of the death of Pope Francis. New dates for the visit and the summit will be agreed upon and announced later.
The summit was supposed to be the first meeting in the Central Asia-Italy format with the participation of the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The following issues were expected to be discussed.
Development of a strategic partnership between Italy and the countries of Central Asia.
Strengthening economic and trade ties.
Cooperation in the field of energy and sustainable development.
Discussion of regional security and cultural and humanitarian exchange.
The summit was expected to sign agreements and joint statements aimed at expanding cooperation between Italy and the countries of the region.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni postponed her visit to Kazakhstan and participation in the summit due to the need to attend mourning events in memory of Pope Francis, who died on April 21, 2025. Italy has declared five days of national mourning.
Despite the postponement, both sides expressed interest in holding the summit in the near future. New dates for the Italian Prime Minister’s visit and the Central Asia-Italy summit are expected to be agreed upon in the coming weeks.
The warehouses of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” are waiting for the shipment of 100 thousand cubic meters of round timber, and the business has increased its debt to UAH 500 million for the products already delivered, the press service of the state enterprise reported.
The state-owned enterprise reminded that during recent meetings with business, there was a demand to increase harvesting, as there is a shortage of resources.
“But the facts show otherwise. Since the beginning of April, the hotline of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has not received a single complaint about the failure to fulfill timber supply contracts due to the fault of foresters (the only case concerns a conflict between entrepreneurs in the Carpathian region, which our employees became hostages). However, the volume of unselected products in the warehouses has increased significantly,” the statement said.
The Forests of Ukraine emphasized that there are a dozen companies among those who do not fulfill their obligations.
Business liability for breach of contract is now minimal. Buyers risk virtually nothing. With significant price fluctuations in the market, it is sometimes easier not to choose products under an open contract and re-enter the auction, the state enterprise explained.
However, due to the accumulation of timber products and reloading of warehouses, storage costs are increasing at the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”. Late payment negatively affects the state of settlements with service providers (primarily for logging). The forced shutdown destabilizes the work of logging companies, and we lose scarce employees who are difficult to replace.
“Our company is working to solve the problem. We are increasing the share of long-term contracts. The situation is definitely normalizing. However, the issue of business responsibility must be taken into account in further discussions on increasing procurement. If we demand it, we must meet it,” the state-owned enterprise emphasized.
President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that he has spoken with US President Donald Trump about the peace process in Ukraine.
“We both agreed that the war should end as soon as possible to prevent further unnecessary deaths,” Ramaphosa wrote in X on Thursday following the meeting.
According to him, the two sides agreed to meet in the near future to discuss US-South Africa relations. “We also talked about the need to develop good relations between our two countries,” Ramaphosa added.
President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa called the visit of his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Pretoria “historic” as it was the first time the Ukrainian head of state had come to South Africa since the establishment of official diplomatic relations between the countries.
“This official working visit reflects our common desire to strengthen bilateral relations between our countries for the benefit of our peoples. This is in many ways a historic visit, because it is the first visit of a Ukrainian head of state to South Africa in 33 years since the establishment of official diplomatic relations between South Africa and Ukraine,” he said at a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Pretoria on Thursday.
According to Ramaphosa, he held “successful talks” with President Zelensky, during which the leaders exchanged views on how to strengthen and deepen bilateral relations between the two countries. They also discussed how ministers from both sides can work together to deepen and broaden these relations.
They also noted the growing interest in expanding relations in the areas of diplomacy, post-conflict reconstruction, development and empowerment of peoples, especially women.
“We also discussed opportunities for cooperation in areas such as agriculture, trade, education, infrastructure and energy, as well as other social issues,” the president added.
In addition, Ramaphosa noted the significant steps taken by Ukraine, and President Zelensky in particular, to expand relations with the African continent. These include the provision of grain in the food sector, the expansion of agricultural cooperation, and the opening of a grain hub to the port of Mombasa in Kenya.
According to him, today’s meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the common interest in promoting peace, security, stability and sustainable development on the continent, in Ukraine and around the world.
The management of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan discussed with representatives of Tencent Cloud International, a part of the Chinese holding Tencent Holdings Ltd, the issues of bilateral cooperation in the development of digital technologies and cloud infrastructure in the country, the press service of the regulator reports.
During the talks, the prospects of integrating Tencent’s WeChat Pay digital payment system with local payment systems of Uzbekistan, the possibility of making payments using QR codes, as well as expanding cooperation in this area were discussed, the statement said.
Following the meeting, the parties supported initiatives in the field of payment systems and agreed on future joint actions.
Miraziz Mirkhayotov, deputy director of the Central Bank’s payment systems department, told reporters that Chinese mobile payment services WeChat and Alipay (from Ant Group, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group) can be integrated with Uzbekistan’s national payment systems.
According to him, at the first stage, the parties are working to ensure that foreign tourists can make payments in Uzbekistan. At the second stage, similar work is planned to make payments by Uzbek residents in China through the republic’s payment systems Uzcard and Humo.
Naftogaz Group and Polish oil concern ORLEN have signed a new agreement for the supply of 100 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Ukraine.
“This is the third contract within the partnership signed in the spring of this year. The total volume of contracted gas is 300 million cubic meters,” the company said on Thursday.
The signing of the contract was announced at the annual ORLEN GAS Meeting, a leading industry event dedicated to the region’s energy security.
The gas will be supplied from the US, regasified at the terminal in Świnoujście (Poland) and transported to Ukraine via the Polish gas transportation system.
“We are already preparing for the next heating season, and such contracts are an important part of our strategy to diversify supplies and ensure the country’s energy stability,” said Roman Chumak, CEO of Naftogaz Group.
In turn, according to Robert Soschinsky, Vice President of Operations at ORLEN, the new agreement with Naftogaz emphasizes the growing role of ORLEN as a natural gas supplier in the region.
“Our partnership significantly strengthens Ukraine’s energy security thanks to ORLEN’s diversified supply portfolio and efficient use of the Polish gas transportation infrastructure,” he emphasized.
As reported, in March 2025, Naftogaz and ORLEN signed a memorandum of long-term cooperation in the field of liquefied natural gas (LNG), under which they signed a contract for the supply of the first 100 million cubic meters. The memorandum establishes long-term strategic cooperation between the companies and will enable Ukraine to create a more diversified gas supply system.
