Egypt and Cyprus to Advance Delimitation of Maritime Zones

Diplomatic activity in the East-Med region continued yesterday (Wednesday) apace when the leaders of Greece, Egypt and Cyprus met for the 3rd trilateral summit meeting in Athens, Greece, their second summit of the year which yielded a new paper, The Athens Declaration.

In the declaration, the three leaders, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Cypriot President Nico Anastasiades, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, say they are "cognizant of the immense challenges to the stability, security and prosperity of the Eastern Mediterranean and the need for a concerted and collective response", to the developments in the region, including the rise of ISIS/Da'esh and other terrorist groups, the migrant crisis, the Syrian Civil war and the partition of Cyprus.

In the declaration the leaders refer to multiple subjects, among them hydrocarbons and marine boundaries. "We wish to re-emphasize that the discovery of important hydrocarbon reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean, including the recent discovery of the “Zohr” gas field in Egypt’s Exclusive Economic Zone, can serve as a catalyst for peace and stability in the region," they declared before emphasizing the importance of "adherence by the countries of the region to well-established principles of international law. Recognizing the universal character of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), to which all three countries are State-Parties, we agree to accelerate negotiations on the outstanding issues related to the delimitation of our three counties’ adjacent maritime zones." Keep in mind that neither Israel nor Turkey is signatory to that UN Convention. Israel is currently in dispute with Cyprus concerning the encroachment of the Aphrodite gas field reservoir into Israel's exclusive economic zone. This was the only reference to the development of hydrocarbon resources in the East-Med in the declaration.

"The discovery of significant hydrocarbon reserves in the east Mediterranean and at Zohr, can and must be a catalyst for wider regional cooperation,” said Mr. Anastasiades, the Cypriot President, according to Cypriot media. However, no firm plans were laid down for any cooperation on hydrocarbons between Egypt and Cyprus.

The declaration concludes with the announcement of the establishment of a trilateral cooperation mechanism for the advancement of "practical projects of trilateral interest."

Ya'acov Zalel