Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis will travel to Benghazi on Sunday, 6 July, for a meeting with Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Libyan National Army and the de-facto authority in eastern Libya. It will be the first encounter between a senior Greek official and Haftar since 2022. Gerapetritis is due to return to Libya on 15 July for talks with officials in Tripoli. Athens said the discussions will focus on the recent increase in irregular migrant arrivals from eastern Libya and on the 2019 Turkey-Libya maritime boundary memorandum, which Greece regards as contrary to international law. "We never abandoned Libya," Gerapetritis said, adding that he intends to open a substantive dialogue on delineating exclusive economic zones. Earlier on Thursday, Turkey’s Defence Ministry asserted that the maritime accord is fully valid, dismissing Greek and Cypriot objections, a stance that heightens diplomatic friction ahead of the visit. In a separate initiative on 3 July, Gerapetritis and Labour Minister Niki Kerameus held a videoconference with Greek diplomatic missions in the United States and Canada to prepare the "Rebrain Greece-USA" forum, slated for 7 December in New York. The programme aims to connect highly skilled Greek professionals working in North America with companies operating in Greece.