Talks for extension of grain deal to continue: Ankara

ANKARA

Ankara has announced that technical talks over extending the grain deal will continue between Türkiye, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations in the coming days amid Russia’s threats that the initiative will terminate on May 18 if its conditions are not met.

Türkiye hosted two-day talks in Istanbul with the participation of senior officials from four sides. A written statement by the Defense Ministry categorized the talks as useful and constructive.

It informed that the parties have agreed to continue to work at the technical level for the effective implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Positive and constructive progress has been observed during the talks, the ministry also stressed.

Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Türkiye and the U.N. for the resumption of export of their food products, including grain, fertilizers and other products to the world markets through the Black Sea. It was meant to avoid a growing food crisis in the world, as Russia and Ukraine are the world’s two largest grain suppliers.

Around 30 million tons of grain have been exported by Ukraine since the agreement took effect in mid-2022 but due to the secondary sanctions on shipment and banking, Russia could not export its products. Moscow extended the grain initiative only for 60 days in March with threats that it would terminate it if its conditions were not met.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, who met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on March 10 on the sidelines of Türkiye-Syria normalization talks, discussed the continuation of the grain deal as well.

He said he has the sentiment that the initiative will be extended for another two months. Türkiye and the U.N. are working on formulas for overcoming the problems in front of the Russian export of its food products.

In case the initiative ends, Türkiye and Qatar have expressed their intention to work with Russia for launching a new model, Moscow had earlier said.