Greece and Libya have agreed to hold talks on marking their marine zones in the eastern Mediterranean, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday after a meeting with Libyan President Mohammad Younes Menfi.
In a statement after the meeting, Mitsotakis said the two leaders “agreed to resume immediate talks between Greece and Libya on the demarcation of marine zones.”
Libya’s new unity government took office on March 16, succeeding two warring authorities that had ruled eastern and western regions for a decade of violent chaos since the overthrow of autocratic leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Mitsotakis said Athens aimed to restore ties with Libya, which was acidified by the internationally recognized Tripoli-based National Accord Government (GNA), which signed a 2019 sea border agreement with Turkey, Greece’s regional rival.
The issue has been fueled by tensions between Athens and Ankara over territorial issues and energy issues in the eastern Mediterranean, which brought the two NATO allies into close armed conflict last year.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey and Libya were committed to the 2019 agreement following talks with Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah in Ankara on Monday.
This agreement, which led Greece to expel the Libyan ambassador at the time, mapped a sea border between Turkey and Libya near the Greek island of Crete. According to Athens, it has no legal force and must be annulled.
Last year, Greece signed an agreement with Egypt to designate an exclusive economic zone in the eastern Mediterranean, which Turkey has said violates its own continental shelf, and which overlaps the marine zones that the country agreed with Libya.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will meet with Turkish officials in Turkey on Thursday for talks on various issues.
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