“I ask Russia to resume the initiative of the Black Sea agreements”, urges Antonio Guterres

The general secretary of the UN, Antonio Guterrestoday urged Russia to resume the initiative of the agreements of the Black Seawhich allowed the export of Ukrainian grains and fertilizers, “essential to ensure stability in supply and prices.”

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“I ask the Russian Federation to resume the implementation of the agreements of the Black Sea and I urge the international community to remain united in this effort to find effective solutions.”said Guterres during the opening in Rome of the United Nations Summit about “Food Systems +2″.

The Italian capital, headquarters of the organizations of the UN specialized in foodFAO, IFAD and WFP), is hosting a multilateral meeting this week to take stock of the agreements reached two years ago in NY on the transformation of food systems and the climate crisis.

The decision by the Kremlin of not renewing the agreements, taken exactly one week ago, has marked the inauguration of the summit in which there is very little European and Latin American presence.

“The most vulnerable will pay a high price and we are already seeing the negative effects”denounced Guterresfor whom Russia and Ukraine are countries “essential for the world food security”.

“Historically they have represented 30% of the world exports of wheat and barley, a fifth of all corn and more than half of sunflower oil.” he pointed.

Guterres He assured that he would continue his efforts to “facilitate access to grain and fertilizers for both Ukraine like Russia”, despite Moscow’s decision, which is already noticeable in an increase in the price of wheat.

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According to United NationsUntil now the agreements had allowed the departure of more than 32 million tons of food products from Ukrainian ports.

“It is terrible that people still suffer and die from hunger. (..) Food systems are broken and millions of people are paying the consequences”he pointed Guterres before calling for massive investment in “resilient food systems”, especially in Western Asia, Africa and the Caribbeanthe regions “that suffer the most”.

On the other hand, hours before the request of Guterresthe Russian president, Vladimir Putinpromised to continue supplying grain to African countries in an article published by the second summit Russia-AfricaWhat will be celebrated in St. Petersburg the next days 27 and 28, just when the UN conference ends.

“We fully understand the importance of uninterrupted food supply for the socio-economic development and political stability of African states.”, pointed out the president.

He added that for this reason, Russia “He has always paid great attention to questions regarding supplies of wheat, barley, maize and other crops to African countries.”

“And we have done it not only on a contractual basis, but also for free, in the form of humanitarian aid, including through the world food program UN”he stressed.

The Russian president defended his decision not to prolong the grain compact because -he said- it was used “only to enrich the big American and European companies that exported and resold grain from Ukraine”.

“In almost a year (…) it was exported from Ukraine a total of 32.8 million tons of cargo, more than 70% of which went to high, middle and high income countries, including the European Unionwhile countries like Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, and also Yemen and Afghanistanreceived less than 3%“, argument.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.