Greece and Egypt are set to begin talks immediately on extending the delimitation of their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), following an agreement reached during a telephone conversation between Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis and his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty.

The development follows Egypt’s strong reaction to the ratification of the illegal Turkey-Libya memorandum by the House of Representatives in Benghazi.

The Greek-Egyptian agreement

Signed in August 2020, the agreement provides for the partial delimitation of the EEZ between the two countries, covering the area between the 26th and 28th meridians. Unlike the Turkey-Libya memorandum, the Greek-Egyptian agreement recognises the effect of Greek islands, including Crete and the Karpathos-Rhodes island group, in the delimitation of the continental shelf and EEZ, countering Turkey’s claims.

The maritime boundary agreed by Greece and Egypt overlaps with and effectively nullifies the boundaries set out in the 2019 Turkey-Libya memorandum in the eastern Mediterranean.

The key outstanding issue concerns the area east of the 28th meridian, where Kastellorizo and the surrounding region are located. The delimitation of Kastellorizo’s EEZ was not included in the 2020 agreement and remained open for future negotiations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Those negotiations are now set to begin following the ratification of the Turkey-Libya memorandum by the Benghazi-based parliament.