Turkey to play important role in preventing world food crisis: Spokesperson

ANKARA

Turkey will play an important role in preventing the world food crisis if the talks for the export of Ukraine’s agricultural products yield results, the presidential spokesperson has said.

Stating that some issues need to be technically negotiated and resolved, İbrahim Kalın said, “All these issues will be decided in the meetings to be held in Turkey in the next one to two weeks, and after that, Turkey will assume a very important task in preventing the world food crisis.”

“We have been conducting a negotiation process with our Foreign Ministry and other institutions for a while, with the Ukrainian side, the Russian side and the United Nations on this issue,” Kalın told reporters on May 31.

He stated that the issue of transporting grain products, sunflower oil and fertilizer from Ukraine and Russia to international markets is of great importance, otherwise, the whole world will face a major food crisis.

When asked about a formula for Ukraine’s export of agricultural products by sea, Kalın said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed the issue in detail with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He expressed to the two leaders the readiness of Turkey to play a “facilitator” role and that both Russia and Ukraine responded positively, Kalın said.

Putin told Erdoğan that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, accompanied by a delegation, would visit Turkey on June 8 for the negotiations, he added.

After the talks between Putin and Erdoğan on May 30, Kremlin’s readout said, “The emphasis was placed on the issues of ensuring safe navigation in the Black and Azov seas, eliminating the mine threat in their waters.’’

The readout said Putin noted “the readiness of the Russian side to facilitate the unimpeded maritime transit of goods in coordination with Turkish partners.’’ It stated, “This also applies to the export of grain from Ukrainian ports.’’

Ukraine has accused Russia of looting grain and farm equipment from regions its troops hold in Ukraine and of obstructing Ukraine’s exports of grain.

The Kremlin said Putin “confirmed’’ to Erdoğan that Russia can export “significant amounts of fertilizers and agricultural products’’ if sanctions against it are lifted.