Egypt-Greece to Sign Deal on Demarcating Maritime Borders in Hours

Greece's Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias is set to arrive in Egypt, today Thursday, in an official visit to put the finishing touches on the agreement to demarcate the maritime borders between Egypt and Greece, according to Greek diplomatic sources.

The sources confirmed that there will be consensus between the two sides on signing the maritime border demarcation agreement, stressing that following the signing of agreement on demarcating an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) between Greece and Italy, Dendias announced that he would visit Egypt to ink a similar deal.

According to the statements of the Greek Foreign Minister, “The delimitation of maritime zones is achieved in accordance with International Law, through valid agreements. Not through null and void agreements, like the Turkey – Tripoli-based Prime Minister Fayez al Sarraj agreement, And, of course, not through the unilateral submission of coordinates.”

Egypt is seeking to drop the agreement signed between Sarraj and Erdogan in the eastern Mediterranean, as Cairo and Athens agreed several months ago to accelerate the demarcation of the maritime borders between the two countries.

The sources noted that the visit of the Greek foreign minister to Cairo comes at a very important time, especially after the signing of maritime boundaries agreement between Greece and Italy.

Greece and Turkey

Meantime, Athens works on mobilizing international support to stop Ankara’s ambitions in the region, especially after it drew a controversial map with Libya and announcing to conduct gas exploration activities in the eastern Mediterranean.

From a Greek perspective, the signing of the EEZ with Italy has major ramifications for Turkey’s plans to steal oil and gas from the Greek naval region, hampering its efforts to fully control the eastern Mediterranean.

Last year, Turkey signed a maritime agreement with Sarraj government in Libya to extract Greek oil without acknowledging the existence of Cyprus in the EEZ.

These agreements between Greece, Italy and Egypt are  indeed of great importance in order to ensure prosperity and cooperation between the three countries in the oil and gas rich region.