Meloni postpones visit to Uzbekistan

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has postponed her visit to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan due to the death of the Pope, whose funeral is scheduled for Saturday, ANSA news agency reports.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the trip — initially planned for Friday to Sunday — will be rescheduled in the coming weeks.

Meloni was originally expected to pay an official visit to Samarkand from April 25 to 26, where she was set to hold talks with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

She was then to proceed to Kazakhstan, where the first "Central Asia – Italy" summit was scheduled to take place on April 27 in Astana.

The Pope passed away on April 21, with the Vatican citing a stroke as the cause of death. Despite his long illness, the Pope managed to appear in public on Easter.