Over 400 heads of state and government, cabinet ministers, businessmen, bankers and international organisations, academics and experts from around 50 countries will attend the Forum MED - Mediterranean Dialogues meeting in Rome next week, the Italian foreign ministry said on Monday.
The summit is being promoted by the foreign ministry and by the Italian Istitute for International Political Studies (ISPI) think-tank, the foreign ministry said.
"The Mediterranean makes up just 1 percent of the earth's surface, but a significant part of global stability and security is at stake in this sea," said Italy's foreign minister Angelino Alfano.
"And Italy, which is at its centre, intends to protect that identity and those reciprocal influences that have shaped a culture of dialogue and respect in the Mediterranean for thousands of years," he continued.
Alfano and ISPI director and vice-president Paolo Magri will represent the upcoming Forum MED - Mediterranean Dialogues summit to journalists at the foreign ministry in Rome on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said.
