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Lebanon Eyes Cyprus Maritime Boundary Deal

Lebanon Eyes Cyprus Maritime Boundary Deal
folder_openLebanon access_timeone year ago
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By Staff, Agencies

Lebanon and Cyprus agreed Friday to move ahead with sea border talks a day after Beirut finalized the process of defining its maritime boundary along the occupied Palestinian waters.

"There's no problem between Lebanon and Cyprus that cannot be resolved easily," said Cypriot envoy Tasos Tzionis following a meeting with Lebanese President Michel Aoun.

"We had very friendly and extremely constructive discussions" on demarcating maritime borders between the two Mediterranean countries, Tzionis said, expressing hope an agreement was within reach.

In 2007, Lebanon and Cyprus signed an agreement to delineate their respective exclusive economic zones, but it was never ratified by the Lebanese parliament due to the then-unresolved dispute with the ‘Israeli’ occupation entity.

Cyprus, which has aspirations of becoming a major energy player in the eastern Mediterranean, has a key exclusive economic zone, divided into 12 blocks and potentially rich in gas.

The cooperation with Cyprus is not like the cooperation with the enemy, said Elias Bou Saab, deputy speaker of the Lebanese parliament in reference to the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime.

But Lebanon must also complete talks with its northern neighbor Syria before the maritime border with Cyprus can be finally demarcated.

"We have explained to the Cypriot party that we are not in a position to unilaterally delineate the border... without an agreement with Syria," said Bou Saab.

The Lebanese presidency announced this week that a delegation would visit Damascus to discuss the issue.

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