United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has declared his organization’s «unwavering» support for the indirect agreement signed in July between Russia and Ukraine to allow the export of grain from beleaguered wartime ports; a pact that has saved 100 million people from falling into extreme poverty.
Under the agreement, a coalition of Turkish, Ukrainian and UN personnel oversees the loading of grain onto ships at the Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chernomosk and Pivdenyi, before sailing a pre-planned route across the Black Sea.
The ships cross the Black Sea to the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey, where a joint coordination center has been set up in Istanbul, including representatives from the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey to ensure that ships entering Ukraine do not carry weapons or combat material.
The agreement, accompanied by a permit for the export of Russian fertilizers, is aimed at avoiding «a global food crisis» that the UN is doing its utmost to avert.
«Without the food and fertilizer not coming in right now, we are in for a dramatic effect on food production and food costs. Right now it’s a crisis about price. It could become a crisis of availability,» the secretary-general warned.
The agreement has already facilitated the exit of nine million tons of grain and has contributed to significantly lowering the price of wheat, explained Guterres, now awaiting the renewal of the agreement on November 19 «if no party objects».
«We call on all parties to make every effort to extend the agreement and implement it in all its aspects,» said Guterres.
