Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis has met with Libyan National Army deputy commander Lieutenant General Saddam Haftar to secure commitments on joint maritime controls and irregular migration, as Greece deepens its strategic engagement with the administration governing eastern Libya.
The meeting in Athens marked General Haftar's first official visit to the Greek capital and followed Mr. Gerapetritis's own trip to Benghazi in late March, signaling an accelerating diplomatic track between the two sides.
At the center of the talks was Greece's push to establish an Exclusive Economic Zone with Libya based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea — a long-standing Greek priority that has gained new urgency as Athens seeks to assert maritime boundaries in the central Mediterranean and counter a 2019 Turkish-Libyan memorandum that Greece regards as illegal.
On migration, both sides agreed to intensify joint operations targeting human trafficking networks operating across Mediterranean routes, with a specific focus on preventing migrant vessels from reaching Crete and the island of Gavdos.
Greece will continue training Libyan Coast Guard personnel and supplying maritime expertise to eastern Libyan forces as part of the arrangement.
The talks also covered economic cooperation, with both delegations advancing plans for energy sector investment and the restoration of regular commercial air and sea links between Greece and eastern Libya.
Mr. Gerapetritis reaffirmed Greece's support for a unified, stable Libya free of foreign military intervention — a position that implicitly pushes back against Turkish and other external influence in the country's ongoing political division.