- The UN is collaborating with the United States and European Union to overcome barriers to Russian food and fertiliser reaching global markets.
- More than 650,000 metric tonnes of grain and other food have already been exported under a U.N.-brokered deal agreed in Turkey last month.
- Ukraine’s grain exports have been cut off since Russia’s invasion in February.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated On Saturday that the UN is collaborating with the United States and the European Union to overcome barriers to Russian food and fertiliser reaching global markets.
More than 650,000 metric tonnes of grain and other food have already been exported under a U.N.-brokered deal agreed in Turkey last month to resume Ukraine’s grain exports, which have been cut off since Russia’s invasion in February.
“The other part of this package deal is the unimpeded access to the global markets of Russian food and fertiliser, which are not subject to sanctions,” Guterres said in Istanbul, where he visited a coordination centre overseeing the exports.
He said that while the countries that imposed sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine made clear that the measures did not apply to food and fertilisers, there was still a “chilling effect” on exports.
“There are a certain number of obstacles and difficulties that need to be overcome in relation to shipping… to insurance and… finance,” Guterres told a news conference alongside Turkey’s Defence Minister Hulusi Akar.
Guterres stated that the UN was collaborating with Washington and the European Union to remove these impediments.
“Getting more food and fertilizer out of Ukraine and Russia is crucial to further calm commodity markets and lower prices for consumers,” he said.
Prior to Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, which Moscow describes as a special military operation, Russia and Ukraine accounted for roughly one-third of global wheat exports. Russia is also a major fertilizer exporter.
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