Italy will host an international conference on strife-wracked Libya, next month, foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni told the Senate upper house of parliament late Wednesday.
"Our objective is to bring together in Rome on 13 December world powers and also the key countries of the region," Gentiloni said ahead of a meeting
The planned summit could give "decisive impetus" and forge a "road map" towards ending the conflict in Libya, said Gentiloni.
"We don't want to replace the Libyan sides but rather remove external obstacles that have until now prevented an accord," Gentiloni said.
The world needed to act urgently to prevent "the complete break-up of the country and the advance of the Islamic State," he warned.
"We don't have much time left," he added.
Libya has slipped deeper into chaos since the 2011 ouster of dictator Muammar Gaddafi with two rival governments, each backed by a multitude of militias, which has allowed IS jihadists to take control of the coastal oil hub of Sirte.
IS is now trying to expand eastwards to Ajdabiya, between Sirte and Benghazi in the heart of one of the North African country's major oil-producing regions, AFP cited a senior Libyan officer as saying on Tuesday.
Protracted UN-backed talks between Libya's political factions have so far failed to produce an agreement on a unity government.
After talks in Paris last Thursday with French president Francois Hollande, Italy's premier Matteo Renzi said Libya was "an absolute priority" and risked becoming "the next emergency".
The meeting came amid Hollande's search for allies in the war against IS following the deadly 13 November attacks on Paris which killed 130 people.
A day earlier, Gentiloni said Rome would agree to a request from France for troops to be deployed to Libya.
