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Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis is embarking on a two-city diplomatic push in Libya this week, visiting both Benghazi and Tripoli in a bid to maintain active channels with the country\u2019s rival power centers.<\/p>\n
Gerapetritis travels to Benghazi on Saturday to meet with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the Libyan National Army, and attend the inauguration of Greece\u2019s new general consulate building in the city. Greece and Italy are the only European countries with a general consulate in Benghazi, alongside non-European states with vital regional interests, including Turkey and Egypt.<\/p>\n
Talks in Benghazi will cover migration, investment, and economic cooperation. Gerapetritis is also expected to reiterate Greece\u2019s opposition to the 2019 Turkey-Libya maritime memorandum \u2013 an agreement Athens regards as illegitimate.<\/p>\n
Ankara has been pressing Benghazi to ratify the accord, which has not been approved by Libya\u2019s House of Representatives, based in the country\u2019s east.<\/p>\n
The visit builds on months of intensifying contacts. Since Gerapetritis\u2019 last trip to Benghazi in July, a series of high-level meetings have followed: Haftar\u2019s son Belqasim, who directs Libya\u2019s development and reconstruction fund, visited Athens in September; another son, Khaled, head of the Eastern Libyan Armed Forces, came in November; and House of Representatives Speaker Aguila Saleh visited Athens in December. In January, Deputy Foreign Minister Haris Theoharis led a business delegation to Benghazi.<\/p>\n
After returning to Athens on Saturday evening, Gerapetritis will travel to Tripoli on April 1, where he will meet officials of the Government of National Unity.<\/p>\n
Athens and Tripoli have already established technical committees to explore maritime boundary delimitation \u2013 an effort to revive a process frozen since 2019.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Turkey expressed irritation over the deployment of Greek forces to Cyprus following ballistic threats against British bases there. The head of Turkey\u2019s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, Fuat Oktay, claimed that Cyprus had become \u201ca bomb that could explode.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n