A New Stage of the Italian Policy in Central Asia

The article examines the policy of the Italian Republic in Central Asia, which received additional impetus with the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In 2025 a new stage of Italy’s relations with the states of the region was enshrined in the “5 + 1” format at the level of heads of state, which reflects the growing importance of Central Asia among Rome’s foreign policy priorities against the backdrop of the current deep geopolitical transformations. The paper concludes that the strengthening of Rome’s foreign policy activity in the region became possible as a result of a combination of several factors: 1) Italy’s goal to play the “middle power” role in the implementation of the EU’s foreign policy, which considers the region being a space of competition with Russia and China; 2) the opening of a window of opportunity against the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, when the Central Asian states are strengthening the multi-vector nature of their foreign policy, and at the same time are becoming increasingly important suppliers of energy and other resources and routes for their transit. The author argues that Italy’s activity in the region is carried out not only through traditional diplomacy, but also through the instruments of economic and cultural diplomacy, which have historically been the strengths of Italian foreign policy.