ANKARA: Turkey and Libya have renewed their commitment to a controversial maritime deal signed in 2019, as Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah paid his first official visit to Ankara.
Dbeibah was selected earlier this year through a UN-backed inter-Libyan dialogue to lead the country to national elections in December 2021.
His government replaces two rival administrations based in Tripoli and the country’s east, the latter loyal to military strongman Khalifa Hafter, whose forces tried but failed to seize the capital in a 2019-20 offensive.
Under the 2019 deal agreed by Ankara and the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), Turkey claimed greater rights over vast areas of the Mediterranean but was challenged by other countries including Greece.
“Regarding the agreements signed by our countries, especially the maritime deal, we reaffirm that those agreements are valid,” Dbeibah said after talks with Erdogan.
The Turkish leader said the 2019 deal “secured the national interests and future of the two countries”.
“Today we reaffirmed our commitment to this matter,” Erdogan said. The two leaders also signed a series of agreements before a press conference in the capital.
Dbeibah said that the two countries will soon work towards “a free trade agreement”. — AFP
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