Greece, Libya to resume talks on joint maritime border demarcation

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis arrives at the EU headquarters to attend for an European Union Summit in Brussels, Belgium on October 17, 2019 [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency]

Greece has agreed to resume talks on demarcating the maritime border areas in the Mediterranean with the Libyan authorities, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced yesterday.

In an official statement, Mitsotakis said that he had agreed with the Libyan government on an “immediate resumption of talks between Greece and Libya on the delimitation of the maritime zones,” according to Reuters. His statement came after a meeting with the president of the Libyan Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Menfi.

Relations between Libya and Greece soured in 2019 after Libya’s internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) signed a maritime boundary agreement with Turkey, with Greece saying at the time that such an accord would be geographically absurd because it ignored the presence of the Greek island of Crete between the coasts of Turkey and Libya.

Mitsotakis said Athens hoped “to reset relations with Libya.”

READ: Greece aims to restore relations with Libya by reopening embassy

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