24Moscow, July 23: Russia and Ukraine have signed a deal to allow grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the agreement would help ease the global food crisis somewhat. The two warring neighbours are among the world’s biggest exporters of food, but Russia’s invasion led to a de-facto blockade of the Black Sea, resulting in Ukraine’s exports dropping to a sixth of their pre-war level.
The signing ceremony took place at Istanbul’s lavish Dolmabahce Palace in the presence of Erdogan and Guterres, wherein Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, signed the deal separately on Friday, carefully avoiding sitting at the same table and avoiding shaking hands.
Friday’s deal means around $10bn worth of grain will be available for sale with roughly 20 million tonnes of last year’s harvest that can now be exported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. (UNI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
