UN Secretary-General Addresses Russian Foreign Minister on Resuming Grain Deal

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that he had addressed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with proposals regarding the resumption of the deal on the export of grain through the Black Sea.

On Thursday, Guterres told reporters: “In a letter that I addressed to the Russian Foreign Minister, we put forward a number of specific proposals. They allow us to create conditions for the resumption of the Black Sea Initiative.”

He added: “We believe that the Black Sea Initiative has played an important role in making food markets more suitable for meeting food security challenges, has led to lower prices and created conditions for products to enter the markets of developing countries.”

“We believe that it will be very important to resume it,” he stressed.

He noted that these proposals could form the basis for the resumption of the grain deal, adding that it should be stable and “not work between one crisis and another, between one stop and another.”

Guterres noted that the proposals also included “a number of specific solutions to [Russia’s] concerns. They allow access for Russian food and fertilizers to world markets at appropriate prices.”

It is noteworthy that Russia has declared its readiness to return to the agreement on the export of grain through the Black Sea after the fulfillment of Russian conditions, in particular the removal of restrictions on the export of Russian food and fertilizers to international markets.

Source: TASS