UN: Export of food and agricultural products from the Black Sea remains critically important

UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq provided information on developments regarding the Black Sea Grain Initiative during his daily press briefing.

Haq announced that Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (OCHA), held talks first with the Russian delegation and then with the Turkish delegation.

Deputy Spokesperson Haq reported that the pair held a video conference with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin and met in Istanbul with Deputy Foreign Minister Ambassador Burak Akçapar.

Stating that the UN is determined to facilitate the unimpeded export of food and fertilizer products from Ukraine and Russia, Haq said, "The UN delegation expressed that in a world of growing hunger, the export of food and agricultural products from the Black Sea remains critically important for global food security."

In a written statement regarding the meeting, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye noted that Akçapar held consultations with Grynspan and Griffiths on the Black Sea Grain Initiative and global food security issues.

BLACK SEA GRAIN INITIATIVE

To mitigate the impact of the Ukraine-Russia War on global food prices, the UN, Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine signed the Black Sea Grain Initiative agreement at a ceremony held in Istanbul on July 22, 2022.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, in a statement on July 17, 2023, regarding the expired agreement, said, "The grain corridor agreement has effectively ended, it has been stopped. Russia will immediately return to the grain agreement as soon as the relevant conditions are implemented. The part of the agreement concerning Russia has not been fulfilled."