UN Secretary General António Guterres on Monday ruled out the possibility of Ukraine and Russia holding peace talks in the near future and ventured that it might be possible to end the conflict by 2023.
In what is his last press conference this year, Guterres expressed that he is «not optimistic about the possibility of effective peace negotiations between the parties in the imminent future» and noted that the military confrontation «will continue.» «We are still going to have to wait for the moment when serious peace talks become possible,» he said.
«I don’t see it on the near horizon, so we are focusing on other aspects, such as increasing the efficiency of the grain export agreement (…) We are also interested in accelerating the exchange of prisoners,» he said.
However, he has expressed that he hopes «that by 2023 they will be able to achieve peace in Ukraine». «By 2023 I am even more determined to achieve peace, to make it a year of action», he indicated before emphasizing that «we cannot accept things as they are».
«We owe people solutions, and we have to fight to achieve them. Sometimes discreetly, but always with determination. We have to fight,» he pointed out. «Human rights must be guaranteed for everyone on the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration,» he said.
Moreover, he has stated that the initiative to export grain through the Black Sea «has made a difference» even despite the «brutal war in Ukraine». Despite this we have seen «quiet diplomacy that has helped people cope with an unprecedented level of food insecurity.»
«Despite the challenges, the initiative has facilitated the export of food and fertilizer from Ukraine (…) Wheat exports from Russia have increased threefold,» he explained.
In this regard, he clarified that «most of the exported wheat was sent to developing countries,» including some 380,000 tons supplied by the World Food Program to support ongoing humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen.»
As he noted, the price index fell by 15 percent in the last eight months, which has prevented millions of people around the world from «falling into extreme poverty.» «But there is a lot of work to be done. Food prices are still too high, and access to fertilizer is still too limited,» he said.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
