Algeria summoned Tunisia’s Ambassador in Algiers on Sunday a few days after the country was described a communist state by a Tunisian minister at a conference in Rome.
The North African neighbours usually have strong security and economic ties with Algeria coordinating with Tunisia to combat Islamist militancy in the region.
Algeria still has a mostly state-run economy but has emerged from the one-party socialism that followed its 1962 independence from France.
Observers downplayed any diplomatic crisis insisting that ties between the two countries are strong.
