Albania and Greece signed the Protocol on demining the Corfu Channel. For a period of nearly four months, from March 15 to July 7, 1958, each of the parties carried out mine clearance operations, which could be found in this area since World War II, according to the determined coordinates of their territorial waters. After the end of this period, from July 30 to August 2, representatives of the government of the People’s Republic of Albania, together with their counterparts in the Greek cabinet, gathered in the city of Saranda to review the completed works. In a joint statement, they announced the signing of a final Protocol, which enabled the Corfu Channel to be “free for the navigation of surface vessels” starting at 12:00 on August 4, 1958. This legal act was compiled in accordance with several conventions that provided for agreements of this nature, such as: the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Special Zone, the Convention on the High Seas, the Convention on Fisheries and the Conservation of Biological Resources of the High Seas, as well as the Convention above the continental shelf. (In the photo: Protocol on the Corfu Channel.)
Text: Central State Archives
Photo: © Central State Archives
Graphic processing: AHCF
