Russian and Indonesian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joko Widodo discussed bilateral relations by telephone, focusing on the implementation of agreements reached during the Indonesian leader's visit to Russia, the Kremlin press service reported Thursday.
"The parties reviewed topical issues of the development of Russia-Indonesia relations with a focus on the implementation of agreements reached during Widodo's recent visit to Russia, including the promotion of a number of major bilateral projects in the trade and economic sphere," the statement said.
In addition, the Kremlin added, Putin congratulated Widodo and the people of Indonesia on the national holiday - Independence Day, which was celebrated on August 17.
Situation on grain and fertilizer markets
Putin briefed Widodo on efforts that Russia, together with Turkey and the UN Secretariat, is undertaking to stabilize the situation on the grain and fertilizer markets.
"The problems of global food security were discussed. Vladimir Putin, in particular, informed about the efforts undertaken by Russia together with Turkey and the UN Secretariat to stabilize the situation on global grain and fertilizer markets," the report said.
On August 16, the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul summarized the results of the first two weeks of work - from August 1 to August 15. According to the center, only one of 21 ships with food that left Ukrainian ports went to Africa, while the rest went to Europe and Asia. The UN has repeatedly pointed out that food exports from Ukraine are carried out within the framework of commercial operations, with private companies determining the destination based on their interests.
The situation in Ukraine and large-scale sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and the European Union resulted in disruptions in grain supplies, which increases the risk of a food crisis in a number of countries. Since the beginning of the year, global prices for wheat and corn have increased significantly. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said that the food crisis in the world had emerged long before the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, its causes were, among others, the pandemic and miscalculations of Western countries.
G20 summit
The Russian president discussed with his colleague, including preparations for the G20 summit in Bali.
"Taking into account Indonesia's G20 presidency, the preparations for the summit in Bali in November will also be touched upon," the statement said.
The G20 summit is to be held on the Indonesian island of Bali on November 15-16 in a face-to-face format. As the press-secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov stated earlier, the decision on the format of Putin's participation in the event has not been made yet.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS