International agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain. What is important to know

The UN hopes that the signed documents will help stabilize food prices and prevent starvation in the poorest countries.Grain exports previously stopped due to the blocking of Ukrainian ports after the outbreak of hostilities

On Friday, July 22, RUSSIA , Ukraine, Turkey and the UN signed an agreement on grain exports in Istanbul. The agreements provide for the creation of a corridor for the EXPORT of Ukrainian grain.

The signing ceremony of the agreement, which was attended by UN Secretary General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was held at Dolmabahce Palace, where negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations on a peace agreement took place at the end of March.

Russia and Ukraine signed the agreement separately: each of the countries concluded a grain deal with Turkey and the UN. Russia was represented at the meeting by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu: he signed a document with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar with the testimony of Guterres. A little earlier, from Ukraine, the document was signed by the Minister of Infrastructure Alexander Kubrakov.

What else was agreed in Istanbul

In addition to the initiative for the safe transportation of grain and food from the ports of Ukraine in Istanbul on July 22, another document was signed between Russia and the UN regarding the export of domestic agricultural products. A memorandum on promoting the promotion of Russian food products and fertilizers to world markets was signed by Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov and Guterres from the UN, the Foreign Ministry said. Its main task is to ensure transparent and unhindered supplies of Russian food and fertilizers to world markets and to achieve the exclusion of these products from sanctions. The term of the memorandum is three years.

The plan for a “mutual” agreement, which the Russian side insisted on as part of negotiations to resolve the issue with the export of Ukrainian grain, was originally proposed by Guterres, the Foreign Ministry stressed. Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said that Russia is discussing with the UN the problem of restrictions imposed on the export of Russian grain, so it is logical to resolve these issues in parallel. “If we are talking about the food crisis, then I don’t think that this problem can be somehow solved by supplying Ukrainian grain. Without the supply of Russian grain and fertilizers, it will probably be difficult to count on progress in this matter, ”Rudenko noted. The fact that the UN calls for a comprehensive solution of the problem and “ensuring unimpeded access to the world markets for both Ukrainian and Russian food”,

Shoigu called the conditions for the export of grain from Ukraine Politics

How will grain be exported?

The export of grain, as Guterres said, will be carried out through the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny controlled by Ukraine. Demining of Ukrainian territorial waters will not be carried out, as it will take too much time: ships with grain, RIA Novosti reports, will leave the Black Sea along an agreed safe corridor, Ukrainian pilots will conduct them. Turkey has offered Ukraine assistance in demining ports if necessary. The military should also not accompany ships with grain: warships, aircraft and drones will not be allowed to approach ships at a specified distance. Representatives of this country, Turkey and the UN will oversee the loading of grain in the ports of Ukraine. Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the office of the President of Ukraine, confirmed that the deal does not involve the presence of Russian representatives in Ukrainian ports. “All inspections of ships will be carried out, if necessary, by joint teams in Turkish waters,” he added. Vessels involved in the transportation of agricultural products will be inspected at the exit and entrance to the Black Sea - this will be done by the established joint quadripartite coordination center. According to Shoigu, this is done so that weapons and ammunition are not carried on ships and to prevent provocations. According to Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, the deal on the export of grain from Ukrainian ports is not limited in time. Shoigu assured that Russia would not take advantage of the fact that the ports of Ukraine would be open and demined.sanctionsfrom a person or company. Step-by-step instruction Instructions Pro Migrants have gone to couriers.

A RIA Novosti source at the UN also said that the organization will encourage private players and the authorities to facilitate the export of products and fertilizers from Russia, since this is not the object of sanctions.
 

NYT found out where grain from Ukraine will be sent under an agreement with Russia Politics

Deal context

After the start of the military special operation, ships with grain cannot leave Ukrainian ports. In early May, the UN said that 4.5 million tons of grain had accumulated in the ports. In June, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced that 20-25 million tons of agricultural products intended for export were blocked in the country: wheat, corn, barley, sunflower oil. By autumn, this volume could grow to 75 million tons, Zelensky admitted.

Previously, grain was transported to the buyer countries by dry cargo ships across the Black Sea, but after the outbreak of hostilities, Ukrainian ports in the Odessa region were mined. In mid-March, the FSB reported that the Ukrainian Navy had placed 420 anchor mines on the approaches to the ports of Ochakov, Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. At the same time, the approach to the ports is controlled by the Russian fleet.

Against the background of the conflict in Ukraine and the impossibility of sea supplies, world prices for food and fertilizers have risen sharply. The risk of a global food crisis due to the events in Ukraine has been repeatedly warned by world leaders, in particular French and US Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden . Representatives of the United Nations expressed such concerns.

The UN predicted mass starvation due to the food crisis Society

Vladimir Putin explained that Russia does not prevent the export of grain from Ukraine: according to him, “no one bothers Kiev” to clear mine ports for the passage of ships. Putin also suggested exporting grain in other ways - through Romania, Poland, the ports of the Azov Sea or Belarus, after lifting sanctions from MINSK. But Kyiv refused the latter option.

In May, Guterres said that the world food crisis could not be prevented without fertilizers and products from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. The role of a mediator in the settlement of the grain issue was assumed by Turkey and the UN. Last week, talks were held in Istanbul between the UN delegations and three interested countries. At the meeting, an agreement was reached on the establishment of a coordination center in Istanbul, and an algorithm for the transportation of grain was agreed upon, which was then planned to be formalized into a specific document.

Lavrov called the main task of the Istanbul agreements on food Politics

Significance of the agreement

The agreement to resume Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea amid the ongoing military conflict is a "beacon of hope" in a world that desperately needs it, Guterres said at a signing ceremony in Istanbul. This will help stabilize skyrocketing food prices around the world and prevent hunger that affects millions of people, he said. In addition, the signed agreements "pave" the way for the return of Russian grain and fertilizers to the world markets.

Ukraine is one of the world's major grain exporters. In the last agricultural year (beginning on July 1, 2021 and ending on June 30, 2022), it accounted for 10% of global wheat supplies, the US Department of Agriculture estimated. In total, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Ukraine supplies more than 45 million tons of grain to the world market.

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In world wheat consumption, which is about 800 million tons, 20 million tons of grain supplied by Ukraine is “an insignificant indicator,” Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko told RBC. She recalled that the crisis in the food market did not happen this year - it is a “protracted story” that began back in the pandemic. And disruptions in food supplies are caused, among other things, by the sanctions imposed on Russia in 2022, the sea and air blockade. Putin has also previously insisted that the 5 million tons of grain located in Ukraine, according to Moscow, do not affect world markets.

Fifty countries depend on grain supplies from Russia and Ukraine, but grain stuck in Ukrainian ports accounts for less than 1% of the grain turnover on the international market, Oleg Kobyakov, DIRECTOR of the FAO office for relations with Russia, also admitted. It follows from the FAO data that the share of Russian and Ukrainian wheat exceeds 30% in the import of this crop for 50 countries, 50% in the import of 26 countries. African countries depend primarily on the supply of Ukrainian wheat: Lebanon (imports about 60% of all imports of this crop from Ukraine), Djibouti (about 55%), Somalia (about 50%), Eritrea and Mauritania (about 45%), Libya ( more than 40%). It is also Pakistan (more than 40%).

In addition, Ukraine accounts for up to 50% of the purchases of the UN food program, which distributes humanitarian aid to poor countries, including Yemen and Libya, where there is already a shortage of food.

The planet has long been in a food crisis, Kobyakov recalled earlier: in 2015, when the UN was tasked with eliminating hunger and ensuring food security by 2030, about 670 million people were starving in the world. The pandemic has significantly pushed back the achievement of these goals: according to FAO statistics, 828 million people experienced chronic hunger in the world in 2021, 150 million more than in 2019. If such dynamics continue, then humanity will not come close to achieving the goal of completely eliminating hunger by 2030, and the same 670 million people will still go hungry in the world, Kobyakov said. The component of the Ukrainian conflict in the growing number of hungry people, according to Kobyakov, is difficult to single out. But, according to FAO estimates, in the first three months of hostilities in Ukraine, the number of hungry people in the world could increase by 3 million people.