The government is working on the case of Silvia Romano, a young Italian aid worker kidnapped in Kenya last week, and is willing to do whatever it takes to free her, foreign minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said on Wednesday.
"We are in constant contact with the authorities in Kenya on the local investigation and are motivated to do whatever is necessary to bring our compatriot home," Moavero said.
The ongoing news blackout was necessary to allow investigators to obtain "a positive outcome" Moavero added.
He was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of an international conference on the death penalty taking place at the lower house of the Italian parliament.
Romano, 23, was kidnapped in an armed attack in a coastal area of Kilifi County in southeast Kenya on 20 November. She volunteers for the Africa Milele NGO based in Torno in Italy's March region.
It is not known whether the men who kidnapped Romano are members of a local gang aiming to get a ransom or are linked to the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.
