­Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday called for tailor-made dialogue to be held with Arab countries undergoing change rather than adopting a “blanket approach”.

Opening the 5+5 summit in Malta, he said the process of democratisation in North Africa would be long but the final aim remained that of having a stable, prosperous and peaceful region.

Countries were moving away from authoritarian regimes, violations of human rights and the suppression of fundamental freedoms.

There were setbacks, such as rising irregular migration flows into Europe, potential civil strife and instability and loss of investment.

But these countries had to “weather these risks” without losing sight of the long-term objective: peace in North Africa, he said, urging an end to bloodshed and violence.

The Prime Minister’s message was echoed by Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, who called on European states to “be patient and understand” the difficulties countries like his were going through.

The revolution in Tunisia led to the ousting of long-time president Zine Ben Ali in January last year and to free and democratic elections.

Referring to the end of the dictatorship, for which his country had paid a “heavy price”, Mr Marzouki said changes in his and other countries would “bring good luck for Europe” which is “our destiny”.

He said Tunisia was working on a project to supply Europe with solar-generated power.

“It is easy to make a revolution but the difficult work comes afterwards. That is why there is illegal immigration and it hurts you as much as it hurts us. We expect you to be patient and understand. We are working on improving border controls,” he said.

Illegal migration was also a topic raised by Mauritiana’s President, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who said his country was making efforts to control its border. He said Mauritiana was making use of “advanced technological systems” for border control.

He also spoke about work to improve political dialogue between the different political forces while opening up the media.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti proposed the extension of the 5+5 dialogue to also include education, training and people-to-people contact to turn the Mediterranean region into “a space of justice, democracy and economic activity”.

He said the summit was playing a key role in reviving European and Mediterranean cooperation as well as improving cooperation between the EU and the Arab world.

Inspiration, Mr Monti said, had to be taken from Malta’s history and the summit could shape the role of the 5+5 as a “tangible and sound bridge connecting Maghreb states and Europe”.

The summit, only the forum’s second since it was set up in 1990, comes to an end today.