Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni congratulated his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry over the phone on the opening the new Suez Canal project on Thursday.

Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti is representing her country in the canal's inauguration ceremony.

According to a statement distributed by the Italian Embassy in Cairo, the two foreign ministers also probed joint support for efforts by United Nations special representative in Libya Bernardino Leon and the need to re-invite the Libyan sides to dialogue to reach a solution to the Libyan crisis.

The phone contact is part of constant coordination between the two countries on the developments of the Libyan crisis and the UN-sponsored political dialogue, it added.