Greece-Egypt deal on Exclusive Economic Zone posted by the UN

On August 6, an agreement was signed for the partial demarcation of maritime boundaries between Greece and Egypt.

This was posted on the United Nation’s Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea on Thursday and carried out by the organization’s Office of Legal Affairs.

The deal designates an exclusive economic zone in the eastern Mediterranean, which gives the two countries rights over natural resources in the region.

Greek diplomatic sources said that this action’s importance lies in the speed with which it happened and that the President of the UN General Assembly is Volkan Bozkır, a Turkish national.

The publishing of the deal by the UN, in combination with the delay in the posting of an accord signed between Turkey and the internationally recognized government of Libya in November 2019 is the result of a long effort by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias.

The Greek diplomat has been in regular contact with the Secretary-General of the UN, António Guterres, the same sources said.

Dendias met three times with the Portuguese top UN official in recent months – twice in Geneva and most recently in New York last September.

This is also the first deal to be published on the delimitation of maritime zones between Greece and a neighbouring country in four decades.

A similar agreement was signed between Greece and Italy and  will be posted as soon as it enters into force.