Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan believes that the new grain agreement will be finalized soon.
In the discussions between Turkey and Russia, no agreement was reached today on the new Black Sea grain agreement.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin said his country is ready to renew the Black Sea Grain Agreement if its own agricultural exports are facilitated.
Western sanctions do not apply to Russian agricultural exports. However, according to Russia, restrictions on international payment traffic and insurance have made it difficult to export grain and fertilizers abroad.
Putin and the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed the Black Sea Grain Agreement on Monday in Sochi, Russia.
At the joint news conference of the presidents, Erdoğan said that he believes that an agreement will be reached in the near future.
In July 2022, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN made an agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea despite the war.
The agreement was temporary, but its validity was extended every few months until July, when Russia withdrew from the agreement.
Most of the grain went to EU countries
Russia and Ukraine are the world’s largest exporters of barley, wheat, and corn starch.
According to UN statistics, in June – while the grain agreement was still valid – more than two million tons of grain were shipped through the Black Sea.
In July, the amount of exports collapsed, which is feared to raise the world market prices of foodstuffs in the fall and worsen the food crisis in developing countries.
However, according to experts, the situation is now better than at the beginning of the war in the spring of 2022. Ukraine managed to export a lot of grain before July, and Brazil, for example, has also significantly increased its grain exports.
At the press conference, Putin accused the Western countries of deceiving Russia by emphasizing the humanitarian importance of the grain agreement.
– More than 70 percent of Ukraine’s grain exports went to EU countries, Putin said.
The Russian president emphasized that the potential new Black Sea grain route should not be used for military purposes.
In the same context, Putin commented on Ukraine’s ongoing counterattack.
– I hope they continue to fail, the Russian president stated.
Source: Reuters, AP