14 July 2022; MEMO: Turkiye, Russia, and Ukraine have agreed on the establishment of a coordination centre in the city of Istanbul to facilitate grain exports from Ukraine to international markets, as the global food crisis looms ever closer.
The announcement was made yesterday following a four-way meeting held in Istanbul, which Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar described as "positive and constructive". He stated that in the meeting, "an important step was taken to contribute to the solution of the food crisis, all details regarding the safe shipment of grain and other food-loaded vessels by sea were discussed".
Akar said that all sides identified common ground, particularly regarding technical issues such as navigational safety on transfer routes and joint controls at the entry and exit of ports. The effectiveness of the coordination would especially depend upon the Russians' guarantee of safety for shipments leaving Ukrainian Black Sea ports and transport along the prescribed routes.
With representatives of Kyiv and Moscow set to again gather in Turkiye next week to review the agreement's details and sign documents, Akar stated that "We see that the parties are willing to sort this problem out. We will try to reach a conclusion by carrying out this [plan] in coordination with the UN."
Since the launch of the Russian invasion of Ukraine almost five months ago and the ongoing conflict, exports of essential supplies such as grains, wheat, and fertilisers across the world have been hit hard. With both Russia and Ukraine producing and exporting around 30 per cent of the world's wheat supply, there have been serious predictions of a looming global food crisis and crippling shortages later this year.
Turkiye has attempted to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv in that regard, negotiating the facilitation of a safe shipping corridor from the Black Sea to revive exports of the essential commodities from Ukrainian ports.
Following this latest meeting and agreement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the progress in a statement and hailed the "significant efforts to restore the supply of food to the world market". He stated that he is "grateful to the United Nations and Turkey for their respective efforts."
Zelenskyy said "If it is possible to remove the Russian threat to shipping in the Black Sea, it will remove the severity of the global food crisis".
