La grain crisis has reached a turning point: today Russia and Ukraine will sign an agreement in Istanbul which will allow the transport of the Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea port currently blocked by the Russian Navy. It is the first agreement between Moscow and Kiev since the beginning of the war on 24 February. The. will also be present at the appointment in the Turkish capital UN secretary generalAntonio Guterres. The announcement of the agreement came from the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, great mediator of the agreement.
"The agreement on the export of wheat, of fundamental importance for global food security - said Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for the Turkish leader - will be signed in Istanbul under the auspices of President Erdogan and the UN Secretary General Guterres together with the delegations Ukrainian and Russian”.
What do we know about the Russia-Ukraine deal
The details of the plan were not disclosed, but Rustem Umerov, a member of the Kiev delegation for the negotiations, specified that shipments could resume from three ports controlled by Ukraine: Odessa, Pivdennyi and Chornomorsk.
Last week, also in Istanbul, Russia and Ukraine had agreed an interim plan which provided for joint checks of ships departing and arriving at Black Sea ports and a mechanism to ensure the safety of transfer routes. In addition, an export shipment coordination center should be established in the Turkish capital under the supervision of UN officials as well as Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian officials.
Ned Price, spokesman for the US State Department, welcomed the agreement, but also stressed that Moscow will be held responsible for implementing the plan.
Blocked 25 million tons of cereals
According to estimates, approx 25 million tons of wheat and other grains are stuck in Ukrainian ports, which has already triggered one world food crisis. According to Coldiretti, the recovery of Ukrainian grain exports can save the 53 countries from famine where the population spends at least 60% of their income on food.
“Among the most dependent on Russian and Ukrainian cereal exports – communicates the association – are Egypt, which imports 70% of cereals from Black Sea ports, Lebanon with about 75% and Yemen with just under 50%. And the situation is not very different in Libya, Tunisia, Jordan and Morocco".
