ATHENS — "The designation of maritime zones between Greece and Italy is of high importance," underlined government spokesperson Stelios Petsas while opening the daily press briefing on Thursday.

"It is very positive that the majority of the political parties, praise, adopt and support the agreement, an agreement of historic importance for our country," he said.

He pointed out that the agreement "resolves a 40-year pending issue and is based on the international law, specifically the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and constitutes a model of cooperation and good neighbourly relations. It substantially contributes to the peace and stabillity of the region."

Petsas also underlined that "the agreement confirms the islands' right to maritime zones, continental shelves and Exclusive Economic Zones as well as the mid line of the 1977 Agreement on the designation of the continental shelf between Greece and Italy as the boundary line of the EEZ between the two countries".

Concluding his reference to the Greek-Italian Agreement, Petsas said the the "Agreement indicates Greece's stable aim for the designation of maritime zones with all its neighbours in the context of the international law and particularly of the 1982 UNCLOS."

Epidemiological course good but the virus is lurking

On the course of the pandemic, he said that "the country is carefully continuing its course to the new normality. A month after the lifting of the lockdown, the epidemiological picture remains good. According to the latest figures, the RO number is lower than it was when we decided to lift the lockdown. Nonetheless, nobody should be complacent and obviously not the government".

Petsas said that "the virus is here and is lurking and we know that if we relax we will pay for it".

He said that the government was now focusing on the possibility of imported cases from the moment that the country opens its doors to tourism and on possible local clusters, whether these concern a region, a neighbourhood, an island, a school or an area. "We are intensifying inspections everywhere and preparing for everything," he added.

Petsas also spoke about the economy, underlining that "we consider the yield of the 10-year bond issue very positive. We have raised over three billion euros with a 1.57 pct interest rate, which is roughly equal to the corresponding issue last October and much lower than the 3.9 pct in March. It is also very positive that the vast majority of buyers were foreign funds and institutional investors."

The spokesperson unveiled Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' schedule, saying that the premier will have a video conference with European Council President Charles Michel at 16:00 on Thursday.

At 17:00, Mitsotakis will have a discussion with Professor of History at Stanford University Niall Ferguson in the context of Delphi Economic Forum.

On Friday at 10:00, Mitsotakis will reply a question tabled by main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras on the "Effectively addressing the repercussions of the health crisis on the Greek economy" during the Hour of the Prime Minister in parliament and, finally, on Saturday the prime minister will visit the island of Santorini ahead of the reopening of tourism in Greece.