ATHENS — "After the reopening of the Greek Embassy in Tripoli and the visit of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Libya, a visit with symbolism but also substance, Greece marks the resumption of Greek-Libyan relations," government spokesperson Aristotelia Peloni said on Thursday during a press briefing.

"As the neighbouring country paves the way for normalcy and reconstruction, the prime minister conveyed a message of support for Libya's efforts for peace and for progress, which can be achieved with the immediate and complete withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries from its territory," Peloni said and added:

"Libya's friends are by its side and not far from it…it is geography that defines the framework of bilateral relations and not the artificial lines that some people draw on maps. It is very important for us to cancel illegal documents that were presented as so-called transnational agreements but have no legal force, as the European Council has explicitly ruled."

As the government spokesperson said, "the prime minister stressed to his Libyan counterpart that 'the foundation of a new starting point in our relationship must always be honesty, dialogue and, above all, faith in the principles of international legality, of International Law.'"

She also said that the prime minister "welcomed the readiness of his counterpart to continue directly and bilaterally the discussion – which was interrupted in 2010 – on the delimitation of maritime zones. Always with respect for International Law. In fact, it is important that the other side proposed the establishment of committees for this discussion, which de facto renders the non-valid Turkish-Libyan memorandum devoid of purpose."

"The prospects of bilateral cooperation in areas such as energy, construction, maritime transport and health were also discussed. But there are other areas where a lot can be done, such as tourism, education, culture," she said.

On the vaccination programme, Peloni said that "on Wednesday, Greece exceeded 2.0 million vaccinations. It far exceeded the bar of 25 thousand per day set by some and almost 60 thousand are already being given daily."

It is estimated that in April there will be about 1.5 million vaccinations and even more will follow – depending on the flow of vaccines arriving in the country – in May and June, she added.

The government spokesperson repeated the "call that the prime minister addressed yesterday to our older citizens to get the vaccine because they are the ones who are most in danger. The vaccine is a shield of protection. Vaccination is an elementary self-defense move."

Referring to the forthcoming opening of the upper grades of highschool (lyceums), she stressed that "the government, after a positive recommendation from the Committee of Experts, decided to reopen the lyceums as of Monday, April 12."

Self-tests will be a prerequisite for students and teachers to attend school, and must be done twice a week, before classes start on Monday and Thursday. For the special education units, the self-test is mandatory for the teachers while there is a strong recommendation for the test to be performed on the students.

The first free test, along with instructions and an information pack, can be collected by parents, students and highschool teachers upon presentation of a valid AMKA social security number as of Thursday in the pharmacies of Athens and Thessaloniki and from Friday in the rest of the country.