Foreign Minister Dendias: Greece, Egypt restarting negotiations for an EEZ agreement
FILE PHOTO: Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias with Foreign Minister of Egypt Sameh Shoukry. Photo via ANA-MPE
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Greece and Egypt are picking up negotiations for an agreement on exclusive economic zones between the two countries where they last left off, Greek Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias said on Thursday, following the conclusion of a visit to Cairo.
On his one-day trip, Dendias met successively with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
In a statement on his return to Greece, the Greek minister said, “I had the honor of being received by President of Egypt El Sisi, to whom I conveyed the warm greetings of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. I also conveyed to him the declared willingness of our country to further improve our ties of friendship and collaboration with Egypt.”
Following his meeting with the president, Dendias said he had talks with his close friend Sameh Shoukry, as he called him. “We discussed regional issues, developments in the eastern Mediterranean, the Libya issue, and Turkish aggression,” the Greek minister said.
- Dendias: The Mediterranean can and should become a sea of peace for all its peoples
“It is a common perception of Greece and Egypt that the Mediterranean can and should become a sea of peace for all its people,” Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias wrote in an article to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, on the occasion of his visit to Cairo and his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri.
He hopes that, as he noted in the article, that his visit will contribute to the substantial promotion of the talks on the delimitation of our maritime zones, on the basis of international law.
The Foreign Minister said that the Mediterranean is a bridge of friendship, understanding, cooperation and trust between the peoples of Greece and Egypt, while recalling that “the Greek presence in Alexandria and Cairo is alive, with the communities of Greek expatriates and the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Monastery of St. Catherine of Sinai significantly contributing to the economic, social and cultural life of Egypt.”
“All of the above is a clear proof of Egypt’s religious freedom and makes it an example to follow,” he said.
But, as he pointed out, “today, stability and security in the Mediterranean are threatened” as Turkey violates the international law, both with the illegal and invalid memorandum it signed with Libya’s Al-Sarraj as well as with its involvement to the Libyan civil war, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
“Greece and Egypt, the two oldest civilisations in the Mediterranean, have always had open borders and the sea between us always united us instead of dividing us. With its unacceptable interference and its illegal actions, Turkey seeks to abolish our common maritime borders, our common path to cooperation, growth and prosperity,” he said.