Now more than ever, dialogue is needed to resolve the various crises in the Mediterranean region, Italy's foreign minister Angelino Alfano told reporters in Rome on Wednesday.
"We are in an especially tense moment in the Mediterranean and dialogue is indeed the watchword," Alfano said at a press conference.
He was presenting the annual Forum Med - Mediterranean Dialogues summit taking place at the foreign ministry in Rome from 30 November to 2 December.
"The summit is proof of Italy's integrated approach to the Mediterranean region."
"We don't just concern ourselves with one issue but we link various central themes, which if, taken in isolation, would not show the complexity of the Mediterranean today," he said.
Over 400 heads of state and government, cabinet ministers, businessmen, bankers and international organisations, academics and experts from around 50 countries will attend next week's summit, according to the Italian foreign ministry.
