Greece and Egypt Move Towards Agreement on Sinai Monastery

Greece and Egypt are moving towards an agreement to preserve the St. Catherine's Monastery in Sinai as a global religious center. Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis met with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelati, in Athens to reaffirm the commitment of the two countries.

The agreement aims to ensure the operation of the Monastery, which has been in continuous existence for 1,500 years. Mr. Gerapetritis stressed that Egypt will respect the tradition and the Greek Orthodox character of the Monastery.

In addition, the two sides discussed the delimitation of maritime zones and the strengthening of coordination to manage migration flows from Libya. Mr. Gerapetritis said that Greece intends to start talks with Libya on the delimitation of maritime zones.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lana Zochiou responded to the Egyptian verbal note regarding the Greek Marine Spatial Planning, stressing that this is an expected reaction and that Egypt wants these issues to be the subject of cooperation.