Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis welcomed President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as a “good friend and a friend of Greece” during the Egyptian leader’s first official visit to Athens since the Aug. 6 signing of a maritime accord between the two countries.

Standing with his Egyptian counterpart, the Greek prime minister hailed the maritime agreement, stating, “Our two countries have already set an example of peace and cooperation with an iconic moment on Aug. 6, when they signed an agreement on the partial delimitation of maritime zones.”

Greece views the accord with Egypt as a direct rebuke to the 2019 maritime deal between Ankara and the internationally recognized Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA). Athens contends that this agreement ignores Greece’s rightful claims to Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) via the islands of Crete, Rhodes and Kastellorizo, valid under international law.

Panayotis Tsakonas, head of the Security Program at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, told Al-Monitor, “Greece was interested in any kind of agreement with Egypt that would manage to challenge Turkey’s fait accompli with the GNA. Now there are two direct opposing agreements that must be addressed. So for Greece, it was mission accomplished.”