Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his US counterpart John Kerry discussed on Friday recent developments in the region, namely the crisis in war-torn Syria, a ministry spokesman said.

In a telephone call from Kerry, the two senior diplomats discussed efforts by the United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura to start substantive peace talks, due by 14 March in Geneva, spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

They also discussed the challenges of forming a unity government in Libya under a United Nations-backed plan.

The United Nations is seeking to unite factions and militias that have battled for power since the downfall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 with the hope of restoring stability and quelling an Islamist militancy.

"Both sides agreed on the danger of the current situation [in Libya] and the need to have a government of national unity in Libya at the soonest," the spokesman added.