On Tuesday, Libyan Prime Minister Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba expressed his readiness to form a joint committee with Greece, to discuss the issue of maritime border demarcation. He stressed the importance of reviewing any agreement that preserves the rights of Libya, Turkey, and Greece.
Dbaiba met with Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Tripoli. The Greek leader said he would stand by Libya on its journey towards stability, elections, and ending of foreign interference.
Mitsotakis called on Libya to nullify the “illegal” 2019 maritime boundaries agreement signed with Turkey during his first visit to the country on Tuesday. In a joint press briefing with Dbaiba, Mitsotakis said that for Greece “the annulment of illegal documents was very important.”
Athens remains fiercely opposed to the deal between Ankara and Tripoli, which claims vast swaths of the Mediterranean for energy exploration, much of it as an Exclusive Economic Zone. “This is contrary to international law, and claims by Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt,” he added.
In 2019, Libya’s outgoing Government of National Accord (GNA) signed two MoUs on defence and gas drilling in the Mediterranean. The maritime border agreement was rejected by several countries, such as Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, and the UAE, and was described as an illegal act that violated the sovereignty of other Mediterranean states.