Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that he agrees with the problem voiced by the Russian leader regarding the fact that grain from Ukraine is not going to African countries as originally expected.
"Mr. Putin is right that the grain corridor supplies are not going to poor countries, but mainly to developed countries. Turkey is in favor of food supplies starting from Russia as well. Putin is concerned that during the sanctions imposed against Russia, grain is sent to the same countries that imposed the sanctions [against Moscow]. We [with the Russian president] will discuss this topic in Samarkand," he said, speaking at a press conference in Zagreb.
According to Erdogan, Turkey wants grain to be delivered to the world markets from Russia.
The package of documents aimed at solving the problem of food and fertilizer deliveries to the world markets was signed in Istanbul on July 22.
One of the agreements regulates the procedure for grain exports from Kiev-controlled Black Sea ports. A four-party center set up by Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations in Istanbul is designed to inspect vessels carrying grain in order to prevent arms smuggling and exclude provocations.
Speaking at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum on Wednesday, Putin noted that almost all of the grain exported from Ukraine went to European Union countries, not the poorest countries, where only two ships out of 87 were sent.
Grain is exported from Ukrainian ports, including for humanitarian purposes, on a commercial basis at the expense of UN World Food Program funding from donor countries.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
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Based on materials from TASS