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Cypriot President arrives in Beirut to advance maritime border agreement
The Cypriot President, Nikos Christodoulides, arrived in Beirut on Wednesday morning for an official visit expected to focus on the long-discussed maritime border demarcation between Lebanon and Cyprus. According to local media, both sides are prepared to finalize and sign the agreement, which Lebanon’s caretaker government endorsed in late October.
President Christodoulides was welcomed at Beirut International Airport by Lebanon’s Minister of Public Works and Transport, Fayez Rassamny, along with Cyprus’s ambassador to Lebanon, Maria Hadjitheodosiou. The visit marks a new phase in ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving long-standing maritime issues in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Talks between Lebanon and Cyprus had stalled for years after initial discussions in 2007. However, momentum resumed last July when Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and his Cypriot counterpart reaffirmed their commitment to settling the matter during a bilateral summit in Nicosia. Lebanese officials argue that clarifying maritime boundaries with neighboring states—Cyprus, Israel and Syria—is crucial to enhancing the country’s attractiveness for offshore energy exploration.
While the agreement is viewed by some political actors as a constructive diplomatic breakthrough, others contend that Lebanon could have secured a larger maritime area. Critics question the use of the “median line” principle, which the Lebanese government committee considered fair, but which opponents argue disadvantages Lebanon due to its relatively short coastline compared with the island of Cyprus. Some estimates suggest the country might have claimed an additional 2,600 to 5,000 square kilometers.
Lebanon has been working to settle maritime disputes with neighboring states in recent years. In October 2022, the country reached a U.S.-brokered deal with Israel that established their shared maritime boundary after months of indirect negotiations. The agreement with Cyprus would represent another step toward stabilizing the region’s complex maritime landscape.