Tunisia has joined Libya and Italy in supporting Malta's bid to host the next 5+5 meeting early next year.

Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali pledged his support after a meeting with Foreign Minister Tonio Borg in Tunis.

During the 5+5 meeting, heads of government meet to discuss the future of the Mediterranean zone. The meetings offer a means of informal political dialogue between countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, although two of the countries involved - Portugal and Mauritania - have no Mediterranean coast.

Countries that form part of the 5+5 include Spain, France, Italy, Tunisia, Morocco and Libya.

During a meeting in Tripoli last week, both Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged support for Malta.

"Such events will also help our country in its preparations towards the EU Presidency in 2017," Dr Borg said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.