Italy has urged Egypt to locate an Italian doctoral student who "mysteriously disappeared" in Cairo on 25 January, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
"The Italian embassy in Cairo and the foreign ministry are closely following with great concern the fate of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old student who has mysteriously disappeared on the evening of 25 January in the centre of the Egyptian capital," said the statement.
Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni "recently" spoke on the phone with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry and asked him to "do his utmost" to trace Regeni and inform Italy on the student's condition.
The ministry is in direct contact with Egyptian authorities and Regeni's family, but did not provide any further details about what it believed may have happened to the young man.
Regeni, from the northeastern Italian town of Fiumicello, travelled to Cairo to conduct research for his doctorate, local daily Il Piccolo reports.
