Italy's foreign minister Angelino Alfano on Monday hailed Tunisia and urged support for the North African country, which he called a "a pearl of democracy in the Mediterranean".
"Tunisia is a pearl of democracy in the Mediterranean that should be preserved," Alfano said.
" A pearl born from a revolutionary movement, something that few have achieved," he added.
Alfano was presenting a conference taking place in Sicily on Tuesday and Wednesday, hosted by Italy and attended by representatives from the 57 member-states of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and its six Mediterranean partners - Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.
Alfano and OSCE chairman Sebastian Kurz and secretary-general Thomas Greminger will open the two-day meeting centred on the migration emergency and related security issues which is being held at Palermo's Palazzo dei Normanni, according to the Italian foreign ministry.
