An effective solution to the food crisis is impossible without the return of fertilizers and products from Russia and Ukraine to world markets. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this on Friday, speaking by video link at the G7 ministerial meeting on global food security.
"There can be no effective solution to the global food crisis without the return to world markets of Ukraine's food, as well as food and fertilizers from Russia, despite [the conflict]," Guterres said. According to him, he is in close contact on the issue with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States, the EU and other parties.
"The Head of the UN Conference on Trade and development, Rebeca Greenspan, and my Deputy [for Humanitarian Affairs], Martin Griffiths, continue negotiations aimed at reaching a package deal that would allow Ukraine to export food not only by land but also by the Black Sea and [ensure] that Russian food and fertilizers reach world markets without restrictions," Guterres said. He did not go into detail so as not to hinder the success of the negotiations.
Russia's food access
The UN is continuing talks to ensure unrestricted access to global food and fertilizer markets from Russia and Ukraine, Guterres said.
The situation in Ukraine and large-scale sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and the European Union have caused disruptions in grain supplies. Wheat and corn prices have increased significantly since the beginning of the year. As noted at the UN Security Council meeting on 21 May, there are only 100 weeks of wheat stocks in the world.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said that the food crisis in the world had happened long before the Russian special military operation in Ukraine and had been caused, among other reasons, by a pandemic and miscalculations by Western countries. Lavrov stressed that the current situation has worsened the problem, and Western sanctions were one of the key reasons for the disruption of food supplies, which exacerbated the crisis.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS