Libyan Presidential Council Head To Meet With Greek Leadership On Wednesday

Muhammad Irfan Published April 13, 2021 | 01:50 AM

ATHENS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th April, 2021) Libyan Presidential Council head Mohammad Younes Menfi is set to visit Athens on Wednesday to hold talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, the Greek Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.

"At 10:30 [7:30 GMT] he will be received at the Maximos Mansion [Prime Minister's residence] by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. At 11.00, the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou will meet with the President of Libya in the presidential palace," the statement said.

Journalists will have limited access to the meeting due to strict sanitary measures, the ministry said.

On Sunday, a source in the the Presidential Council told Sputnik that the Libyan president would visit Greece at the invitation of Athens in the upcoming days. According to the source, Menfi will discuss bilateral relations with Greece.

Menfi used to serve as a Libyan ambassador to Athens until he was declared persona non grata over the controversial Libya-Turkey maritime deal.

Under the agreement, signed between Ankara and the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) in 2019, Turkey has gained control over waters that Greece considers to be its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

On April 6, Mitsotakis, accompanied by Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, visited the Libyan capital of Tripoli as part of the effort to restore ties between the two countries. During the visit, he proposed to the Libyan side to sign an agreement with Athens on maritime zones and renegotiate the Libya-Turkey one.

However, earlier on Monday, the head of the Libyan Government of National Unity, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, announced the renewal of the country's commitment to the maritime agreement between Libya and Turkey as serving the interests of both countries.

The new Libyan interim government headed by Dbeibah and Menfi until the December national elections was appointed through the UN-backed Libyan Political Dialogue Forum and replaced the two rival administrations � in Tripoli and the country's east led by military leader Khalifa Haftar.