PM praises initialing of Greece-Albania continental shelf deal

03/20/2009

BRUSSELS (ANA-MPA) -- Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Friday expressed his satisfaction over the successful conclusion of negotiations and the initialing of an agreement by Athens and Tirana to delineate a portion of the Ionian Sea continental shelf and other maritime zones in the same sea region.

"The agreement is completely based on provisions of the United Nations' Law of the Sea," Karamanlis said, in reply to a press question, following the conclusion of an EU summit here.

He also said the agreement will further assist bilateral relations.

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excellent news evro...thats what i like to see more of

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis ® and his Albanian counterpart Sali Berisha review a honor guard during a welcome ceremony in Tirana on April 27, 2009. Karamanlis arrived in Tirana for a two-day official visit during which he will meet with Albanian authorities and sign cooperative agreements.


Greece, Albania sign continental shelf pact

04/27/2009

TIRANA (ANA-MPA / S. Tzimas) -- Greece and Albania on Monday signed an agreement to delineate the continental shelf and maritime borders in the Ionian Sea, where the two neighbouring countries' frontiers converge, during a high-profile meeting here between visiting Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his Albanian counterpart, Sali Berisha.

The agreement, based on provisions of the International Law of the Sea, was signed by the foreign ministers of Albania and Greece, Lulzim Basha and Dora Bakoyannis, respectively.

Both Berisha and Karamanlis later termed the agreement as particularly significant, while again terming bilateral relations between the now NATO Alliance partners as "excellent".

The Greek prime minister is also scheduled to address Albanian MPs in the country's Parliament on Monday afternoon.

"Both countries have taken important steps to create a climate of understanding and trust, and within this spirit, the ethnic Greek minority in Albania comprises a powerful and vital link between our two countries," Karamanlis added.

The Greek premier, who arrived in Tirana earlier on Monday, congratulated Berisha over Albania's recent NATO membership, while the Albania premier, on his part, thanked Athens for its support of Albania's course towards NATO and for Tirana's quest to join the European Union.

"We support and encourage Albania's and all of the western Balkan states' European prospects. With Mr. Berisha we discussed the commitments undertaken by Albania towards the EU. Implementation of criteria and prerequisites, based on European values, will facilitate its approach towards the European family. The holding of elections based on international models, a state of law, combating corruption, respect for human rights and minority rights are all significant steps towards this direction," Karamanlis reiterated after the half-hour meeting.

On his part, the veteran Albanian leader referred to ethnic Greek community located in the country's south, saying that his government will aid in the improvement of living conditions for the community, something he said will contribute to the further strengthening of bilateral ties.

Karamanlis later met with the President of the Albanian parliament, Josephina Topali, and was received by President of the Republic Bamir Topi. He is also scheduled to meet later in the evening with Archbishop of Tirana and All Albania Anastasios as well as Greek minority community leaders.

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Continental shelf agreement signature ceremony

Albania Denies It Gave Territory to Greece

Tirana | 29 April 2009 |

Albania’s government flatly rejected reports by local media on Wednesday that during a recent meeting between Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his Greek counterpart Costas Karamanlis Albania ceded part of its territorial waters to Athens.

The two leaders signed an agreement on Monday, which has not yet been made public. However, local media have published reports that in it Albania gives 225 square kilometers of its territorial waters to its southern neighbor.

“We reject the unfounded, misleading and ill wishing inaccurate information published in an Albanian daily newspaper on the so-called “shrinkage of the strategic position of the Albanian state”, as an outcome of the signing of the Agreement on the Delineation of the Continental Shelf and the Maritime Zone Between the Republic of Albania and the Hellenic Republic,” said a joint-statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence.

“The Agreement signed by the Foreign Ministers, in the presence of the two Prime Ministers was made through a cautious negotiation process lasting for nearly a year, in the spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation, based on the will of both parties to have a fair delineation of the maritime border, under international law in this area and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea whereby both sides are signatories,” the statement adds.

According to the Albanian government the new measurements used to mark the continental shelf between the two countries were made employing the most advanced scientific methods and by the best experts in this field. The delineation registers 150 coordinates, which are joined in an unbroken line and define the maritime border between the two countries. They are absolutely equally distanced from the most extreme points of the land in each of the two countries.

“This agreement, which is already an important part of the bilateral legal frame observes strictly, fairly and equally the sovereignty and integrity of both countries,” the statement said.

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I was wondering when the voices of doom and gloom would have a crack at this agreement .....well here they are

Experts Reject Claims of Greek-Albanian Land Grab

Tirana | 11 May 2009 |

Maritime law experts contacted by Balkan Insight have questioned the accuracy of local media reports of a land grab by Greece of Albanian territory, after the two neighbours signed an agreement to delineate the continental shelf in the Ionian Sea.

The agreement signed by Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his Greek counterpart Costas Karamanlis two weeks ago in Tirana, created a stir of controversy in the local media which accused the Albanian government of giving 225 square kilometers of its territorial waters to its southern neighbour.

The media accused Berisha and the Ministry of Defense of not delineating the division of the continental shelf according to the equidistance principle of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, UNCLOS, on which the agreement was based, a charge which the Ministry of Defense has flatly denied.

Thomas Dehling the head of the Hydrographic Division in the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, told Balkan Insight that the equidistance principle is not the only applied when delineating the continental shelf between two countries.

“It is not unusual to agree upon a delimitation different from an equidistance line especially when agreements are older than the latest edition of UNCLOS, besides, rules other than the equidistance are also discussed for an equidominance line,” said Dehling.

An Albanian Navy expert who spoke to Balkan Insight on condition of anonymity described the media reports as misunderstanding the notions and principles of equidistance outlined in the UNLOCOS treaty, when reporting that some of the coordinates in the agreement did not have equidistance between the two countries.

“In the media reports the coordinates distance is measured with the land territory, while according to UNLOCOS the equidistance measurement is made on the basis of the base line,” he said.

A baseline is the line from which the seaward limits of a state's territorial sea and certain other maritime zones of jurisdiction are measured. Normally, a sea baseline follows the low-water line of a coastal state. When the coastline is deeply indented, has fringing islands or is highly unstable, straight baselines may be used.

(reporting by Besar Likmeta)

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Interesting article evro...food for thought

Albania sea deal in doubt

Wednesday October 21, 2009

A deal between Greece and Albania that aimed to settle a longstanding disagreement between the two countries over their sea borders and continental shelf rights could be scuppered by a legal challenge being mounted by opposition parties in Tirana, it emerged yesterday.

The agreement, signed in April by then Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his counterpart Sali Berisha, was due to be ratified by the country’s parliament on Monday.

However, Socialist opposition leader Edi Rama says the deal, which enforces a clear delineation in the Ionian Sea, lacks transparency and damages Albania’s sovereignty. Six parties are due to file an appeal with the country’s Constitutional Court to stop the accord being approved.

The Socialists’ campaign is seen as part of a wider effort to challenge Berisha’s government, which the opposition claims won June’s parliamentary elections thanks to voting irregularities.

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