Erdoğan, Putin to hold key talks on grain deal on Sept 4
ANKARA
A much-anticipated meeting between Turkish and Russian presidents over the fate of the grain initiative will be held on Sept. 4 in the Russian resort city of Sochi, only days after the two sides’ top diplomats, Hakan Fidan and Sergey Lavrov, had talks on the same issue as well as on other bilateral and regional matters in Moscow.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will travel to Sochi on Sept. 4 for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has refrained from abroad visits since the start of the war with Ukraine in February 2022.
The top issue will be the resumption of the grain deal that allowed the export of more than 33 million tons of wheat, corn and other food products from Ukraine to the world markets through Turkish straits. Russia canceled it on July 17 as it could not transport its own products due to the sanctions.
Prior to the Erdoğan-Putin meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan paid a working visit to Moscow on Aug. 31, where he met with his counterpart, Lavrov.
A press release from the Russian Foreign Ministry has unveiled a new plan for transporting the Russian grain to the needy African countries via Türkiye, in a move to replace the Black Sea grain initiative. Putin’s plan aims to send 1 million tons of discounted Russian grain to Türkiye with Qatar’s financial support.
“This grain will be sent to Turkish companies for processing and subsequent delivery to the neediest countries. We view this project as the best working alternative to the Black Sea deal,” said the press release.
Ankara, however, is against any bilateral formulation to be tabled by Russia and Ukraine. The best and most secure way to supply the grain to the world markets is through the agreement brokered by Türkiye and the U.N. with Russia and Ukraine, Ankara says. This message was also conveyed to Ukraine during Fidan’s visit to Kiev last week.
Russian-Ukrainian war on the agenda
The two sides have also discussed the recent developments in the context of the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine, including humanitarian issues, exchange of prisoners of war and others.
According to Moscow, Lavrov was also planning to talk about the detrimental effects of the buildup of military-technical cooperation between Ankara and Kiev. On the bilateral front, economic and energy cooperation and enhancing trade will be on the Turkish-Russian agenda.
“We are building up our trade and economic cooperation with Türkiye. In 2022, our trade reached a record $62.4 billion. This is an almost 86 percent increase over the previous year,” read the statement.
Fidan and Lavrov also discussed efforts on strategic projects, such as the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear plant, the operation of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline and the construction of a gas hub on Turkish territory.
In their opening remarks in a joint press conference on Aug. 31, both ministers underlined that their agenda covering bilateral issue and regional affairs will be busy.
“As our leaders will meet very soon in person, we will raise all the actual issues to get prepared for that meeting,” Lavrov said.
Fidan, for his part, stressed that it was his first to Moscow under his new capacity as the foreign minister.
He stressed that ending the war between Russia and Ukraine through a fair deal and the resumption of the grain initiative are top issues. Plus, he said, the developments in Syria and South Caucasus will be discussed.