Maritime boundary

Unable to bridge their differences in bilateral negotiations, Albania and Greece have turned to the International Court of Justice to settle a maritime border dispute. The move might just work.

Greek and Turkish officials are likely to meet again at the end of Feburary or in early March to revive efforts to resolve a maritime boundary dispute, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.

The two NATO allies have been at odds over a number of decades-old issues including the extent of their continental shelves, overflights in the Aegean Sea and ethnically split Cyprus.

Commenting on the contentious agreement on maritime boundaries signed between Turkey and Libya's internationally-recognized government, US Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt said, in an interview published on Saturday, that Greek islands are on the same footing as the mainland when it comes to continental shelf and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

An agreement on maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea signed between Turkey and Libya's internationally-recognized government is "unhelpful and provocative," a spokesman from the US State Department has said, adding that Ankara's claims are contrary to international law which stipulates that inhabited islands are on the same footing as mainland coastline in the delineation of exclusive e