Egypt reopens Tripoli embassy after 12 years and raises concerns over Turkey-Libya maritime deal
Egypt reopened its historic embassy building in Tripoli on Saturday during a visit by Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty for talks on trade, energy and a disputed maritime boundary.
Libya's acting foreign minister, Taher al-Baour, joined Abdelatty at the ceremony. Egypt closed the building in January 2014 after gunmen kidnapped five embassy staff. Its diplomatic mission resumed work in Tripoli in May 2021.
Trade and Energy Talks
Cairo has long backed Khalifa Haftar, the military commander whose forces dominate eastern Libya. In Tripoli, Abdelatty met Abdulhamid Dbeibah, the prime minister of Libya's internationally recognised Government of National Unity.
The two discussed ways to make trade easier. Dbeibah praised the role Egyptian companies and workers have played in rebuilding Libya, according to Egypt's foreign ministry.
Abdelatty also met Libya's acting oil minister at the reopened embassy. He called for faster progress on gas pipelines between the two countries and on plans to refine Libyan crude in Egypt for export.
Maritime Boundary Dispute
In his talks with Dbeibah, Abdelatty raised Egypt's objections to a 2019 agreement between Turkey and Libya's then government in Tripoli. He said Egypt's concerns should be taken into account when maritime boundaries are drawn.
Officials from both countries would discuss the maps and their respective claims at their next meeting.
The agreement draws a boundary between Turkish and Libyan maritime zones in the eastern Mediterranean, where several countries claim rights to explore for oil and gas. Greece says the boundary ignores the rights of Greek islands, including Crete. Egypt and Cyprus also oppose the deal.
Libya's eastern-based parliament ratified the agreement on 20 October after opposing it for years. The EU said the next day that the deal infringed on other countries' rights and could have no legal effect on them.
Related
