Ukrainian authorities are first invited to the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to be held on October 16 and October 17 in Milan, presidential press secretary Sviatoslav Tseholko has told Interfax-Ukraine.

"Ukraine has been first invited to the ASEM summit in Milan. It's obvious that the issue of stopping aggression against Ukraine will be one of the key issues at the meeting," he said.

He also said that it is planned to hold multilateral meetings as a part of the summit.

Milan is due to host the tenth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on October 16-17. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy will preside over the event, which will address cooperation between the European Union and Asia in economic issues, finances and security.

ASEM is an international organization, which includes 51 countries of Eastern Asia and Europe. Asia and Europe take it in turn to host ASEM summits, which are held once every two years.