Reform of the European Union's asylum system, Libya's deadly conflict and the standoff between Greece and Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean topped the agenda at talks in Rome between Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio and his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias on Tuesday.
The coming months will be crucial for relaunching the EU asylum system’s reform negotiations, to agree "fair and structural solutions" to prevent and manage migration in the Mediterranean, Di Maio and Dendias agreed.
The ministers reaffirmed their commitment to fully unleash the Eastern Mediterranean’s energy potential, and to actively promote cooperation at the regional level, also in their capacity as founding members of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum and partners in the Southern Gas Corridor, according to a foreign ministry statement.
The accord signed in Tripoli in December between Turkey and the United Nations backed government delineating new maritime boundaries between the two countries is "unacceptable, infringes upon the sovereign rights of third states and does not comply with the law of the sea," said the ministers.
"Delimitation of exclusive economic zones and the continental shelf should be addressed through dialogue and negotiation in good faith, in full respect of international law and in accordance with the principle of good neighbourly relations," the statement said.
"In this respect, and in a spirit of mutual understanding, Di Maio and Dendias reconfirmed the will to revamp the negotiations on a bilateral agreement aimed at delimitating the respective maritime zones expeditiously," the statement added.
Di Maio and Dendias described relations between Italy and Greece as "excellent".
"Italy and Greece together for a Europe that is open to the Balkans, brave on migrations and a leader in the Mediterranean," the foreign ministry tweeted after the talks.
