Russian President Vladimir Putin, after hearing businessman Dmitry Mazepin's proposals for a free supply of Uralchem fertilizers to Africa under the auspices of the United Nations, promised to support him in this project.
"A directive will be given to all our colleagues to provide you with the necessary assistance," the head of state assured Mazepin on Wednesday at a meeting with him.
In particular, the businessman said that Uralchem alone has 262 thousand tons of fertilizers frozen in the ports of Estonia, Latvia, Belgium and the Netherlands. Mazepin offered to apply to the UN and the African Union with a request to unblock them, in order to identify the countries in need under the aegis of these organizations and transfer the fertilizers to them free of charge.
Putin responded by saying that Russia is in contact with the UN on the fertilizer situation, including with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The foreign ministry is also dealing with this situation, and First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov is in contact with the secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development. The Russian president also said that he has been in direct contact with African leaders, who "do not understand what is going on," amid problems with the supply of fertilizers. The Russian leader noted that in the international arena "everybody is always talking about the need to help the poorest countries," but in the end the deliveries - even those free of charge - are blocked. This is "completely unacceptable, but it happens," he stated.
"Of course, we must do everything to ensure, first of all, the interests of our agricultural producers, who demonstrate a very good performance, to support your traditional customers, consumers, but also our friends in developing countries, primarily, as we all now say, the countries of Africa," said the Russian president. According to his assessment, it will contribute to "both humanitarian relief and business in the long run," referring to the support of markets.
As Putin said earlier about 300 thousand tons of Russian fertilizers were arrested in the European ports - Moscow offered to give them free to the developing countries. However, the Russian leader pointed out, they are "not released", "not sent, including to African countries."
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS