On Monday, the United States expressed its hope for the success of the upcoming talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, regarding the restoration of the grain agreement in the Black Sea.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said during a press conference, “As you know, President Erdoğan said on Friday that he looks forward to further discussions with President Putin to get him to rejoin the Black Sea Grain Initiative”.
He added that his country hopes that the upcoming talks between Ankara and Moscow on the grain agreement will yield positive results.
“There is no perfect solution that would allow Ukraine to ship the same amount of grain as it did under the Black Sea Grain Initiative unless the sea lanes are reopened,” Miller said.
On July 17, Moscow refused to extend the Ukrainian Grain Export Agreement, which ends on the same day, and said, “It stopped today, and it will be extended if the Russian part of it is implemented”.
Russia complained that the restrictions and sanctions imposed on it against the backdrop of the ongoing war with Ukraine hindered its exports of food and fertilizers, which are products that Moscow also considers important to the global food chain.
Russia’s withdrawal from the grain agreement sparked widespread international criticism from the United Nations, the United States, Britain, France, NATO and the European Union, while China called for the continuation of the grain agreement “in a balanced and fully implemented manner”.
The agreement was signed in Istanbul in July 2022, between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by Türkiye and the United Nations, to help address the global food crisis that has worsened since the start of the Russian war in February 2022.
The agreement was extended 3 times, as it facilitated the transportation of tons of grain and foodstuffs as part of attempts to address the global food crisis, which escalated to record levels after Moscow launched its military operations.
Russia and Ukraine are the main suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other affordable food products on which developing countries depend.
