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Greece invites Libya to maritime zone talks to ease strained ties
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on July 24, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on July 24, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Greece invites Libya to discuss maritime zones in the Mediterranean to mend strained relations due to a Libya-Turkey deal affecting Crete.
ATHENS (Reuters) -Greece has invited Libya's internationally recognised government in Tripoli to start talks on demarcating exclusive economic zones in the Mediterranean Sea, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said late on Wednesday.
The move is aimed at mending relations between the two neighbours, strained by a controversial maritime deal signed in 2019 between the Libyan government and Turkey, Greece's long-standing foe, which mapped out a sea area close to the Greek island of Crete.
"We invite - and I think you may soon see progress in this area - we invite the Tripoli government to discuss with Greece the delimitation of a continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone," Mitsotakis told local Skai television.
Greece this year launched a new tender to develop its hydrocarbon resources off Crete, a move that Libya has objected to, saying some of the blocks infringed its own maritime zones.
Law and order has been weak in Libya since a 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with the country divided by factional conflict into eastern and western sections for over a decade.
Therefore, any communication with Libya was not easy, Mitsotakis said. He indicated that Greece was determined to continue talking to both the Tripoli-based government and a parallel administration based in Benghazi.
In recent months, Athens has sought closer cooperation with Libya to help stem a surge in migrant arrivals from the North African country to Greece's southern islands of Gavdos and Crete and passed legislation banning migrants arriving from Libya by sea from requesting asylum.
In an incident earlier this month, the European Union migration commissioner and ministers from Italy, Malta and Greece were denied entry to the eastern part of divided Libya, shortly after meeting the internationally recognised government that controls the west of Libya.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Angeliki Koutantou, William Maclean)
Greece has invited Libya's internationally recognised government to start talks on demarcating exclusive economic zones in the Mediterranean Sea to mend strained relations.
The tension stems from a controversial maritime deal signed in 2019 between the Libyan government and Turkey, Greece's long-standing foe.
Greece launched a new tender to develop hydrocarbon resources off Crete, which Libya has objected to, claiming some blocks infringe on its maritime zones.
Prime Minister Mitsotakis noted that communication with Libya is difficult due to the country's weak law and order situation, exacerbated by ongoing factional conflict.
Greece aims to stem a surge in migrant arrivals from Libya to its southern islands, which has prompted the government to seek closer cooperation with the Libyan authorities.
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