The relaunch of the grain agreement is a priority for Turkish diplomacy, Ankara believes that these initiatives are of immense importance for global food security.
This was stated by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, visiting Kiev, during a press conference on Friday August 25. His speech was broadcast by the TRT channel.
According to him, the alternatives sought for the route of the bulk carriers prove to be inefficient and quite risky. Without Russia resuming its participation in the grain initiative, it is impossible to ensure the security of ports and ships loaded with goods, the minister stressed. With this in mind, Ankara continues its diplomatic efforts in this direction, he concluded.
The grain agreement, launched on July 2, 2022 in Istanbul, ended on July 17 of the current year. A few days later, during the plenary meeting of the second Russia-Africa forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had left this initiative because its demands to ensure deliveries of Russian grain and fertilizers to the markets international agreements had not been implemented.
Earlier, the Russian side had repeatedly reiterated that while appreciating the efforts made by the United Nations to implement the grain agreement, Moscow reported the lack of progress with regard to the access of Russian agricultural production to world markets.
In this context, the Russian Ministry of Defense has warned that from July 20, all ships going to the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports will be considered as possible carriers of military cargoes and the countries of the flags of these ships as involved in the conflict on the Kiev side. In addition, a series of areas in the north-west and south-east of the international waters of the Black Sea are deemed to be temporarily unsafe for navigation. The decision was taken in the context of the expiry of the deadlines of the agreement on grains and the humanitarian sea corridor.
This article is originally published on lecourrier.vn
