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After negotiations under the aegis of Turkey and the UN, the international agreement of July 2022 on the export of Ukrainian cereals, essential to avoid a food crisis, was renewed on the edge on the very day it was about to expire, but only for 60 days and not for 120 as intended by Ukraine, in a context in which world tensions surrounding the ongoing conflict in that country continue to escalate.
This Saturday afternoon, the Turkish President confirmed the news by welcoming the extension of this agreement “vital to the world’s food supply”. In the same sense, Stéphane Dujarricspokesperson for the UN secretary general, also said in a statement that “the Black Sea Grain Initiative, signed in Istanbul on 22 July 2022, has been extended”. However, neither Ankara nor the UN explained for how long the agreement was renewed.
The Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure, Oleksandr Kubrakov, stated by in turn the agreement was extended for 120 days. “The Black Sea Grain Initiative has been extended by 120 days. Thank you Antonio Guterres, the United Nations, the President Recep Tayyip Erdoganthe (Turkish) Minister of Defense Hulusi Will and all our partners, for confirming this agreement”wrote in Twitter.
However, Moscow soon denied this information. “We see statements from the different parties according to which +the cereal agreement+ has been extended for 120 days”said Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. “We repeated several times that (…) the Russian informed all interested parties that the agreement was renewed for another 60 days”added the official quoted by the agency Russian Interfax.
Signed in July last year, relieving the difficulties faced by countries dependent on imports of Ukrainian cereals, according to the United Nations, this agreement has so far allowed the export of almost 25 million tons of corn, wheat and other cereals from the ports Ukrainians, passing through Turkey, which together with the UN was given the task of supervising the strict respect of its terms.
According to what was stipulated in the agreement, it is supposed to be “automatically extended for the same period (120 days), unless one of the parties notifies the other of its intention to terminate or amend it”.
The agreement was extended for the first time by 120 days last November until this Saturday, but on the 13th of March, Moscow said that it only agreed to renew it for another 60 days.
At stake is Russia’s discontent, which pointed to difficulties in the greeting of a second agreement concerning, this time, the export of its fertilisers, products considered essential for world agriculture and which until now have not been covered by the set of sanctions applied by Western countries.
Moscow conditions the extension of the agreement on Ukrainian cereals to the annulment of sanctions relating to bank payments, transport logistics and insurance which, in its view, are a brake on the export of its respective agricultural products and fertilizers.
In this Saturday, Stéphane Dujarric assured that the United Nations was determined to implement the agreement and called “all parties to redouble their efforts to fully implement it”.