Turkish president says whereas 44 p.c of Ukrainian grain is shipped to Europe, Ankara may also make an effort to supply the identical to African nations by the Black Sea hall.
(Reuters Archive)
Türkiye is decided to ship grain and flour to African nations through the Black Sea grain hall, the nation’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared.
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin advised me: ‘I’ll provide the grain totally free, and also you ship it to poor African nations,'” Erdogan stated on Sunday at an occasion within the southern Antalya province.
“And we say: ‘Okay. We’ll get this for free from you. Let’s turn it into flour in our factories, and send it to these poor African countries.’ We agreed,” he added.
Erdogan stated 44 p.c of Ukrainian grain is shipped to Europe.
“We are determined and we will make an effort to send these products to African countries from this grain corridor,” he added.
In July final 12 months, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an settlement in Istanbul to renew grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which have been paused after the Russia-Ukraine conflict started in February 2022.
A Joint Coordination Centre with officers from the three nations and the UN was arrange in Istanbul to supervise the shipments.
The first ship carrying grain departed on August 1, 2022 from the Ukrainian port of Odessa beneath the historic Ankara-brokered deal.
Last November, it was reported that Ukraine had additionally agreed to ship 125 thousand tonnes of grain to Sudan, Yemen, Kenya and Nigeria.
READ MORE: Which African nations profit from Türkiye-brokered grain deal?
Before the conflict, Ukraine has been ramping up wheat shipments to African nations beginning in 2019.
According to an Argus Media report, about 6.26 million metric tonnes of Ukrainian wheat was exported to Africa within the 2021-22 advertising and marketing 12 months, accounting for practically 12 p.c of African wheat imports.
Egypt was the biggest purchaser, adopted by Tunisia, Morocco, Ethiopia, Algeria, and Nigeria.
The battle between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, nonetheless, has disrupted these wheat provides cargo.
Türkiye’s peace efforts
Türkiye, internationally praised for its distinctive mediator position between Ukraine and Russia, has repeatedly referred to as on Kiev and Moscow to finish the conflict by negotiations.
Erdogan stated Türkiye is doing its half to discover a answer to the Russia-Ukraine conflict versus those that “are helping arms dealers.”
“We are putting effort to achieve world peace. On the same day, we are talking both with Putin and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy,” he stated.
“We are making an effort to see how we can reconcile them. We continue on our way by showing this sincerity because we know that the world can only rise on peace,” he added.
READ MORE: Erdogan: Black Sea grain deal results of Türkiye’s mediation
Source: AA
