Deputy Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Russia Onal and Vershinin discussed the entry of agricultural products into the markets
Deputy Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Russia Sedat Onal and Sergey Vershinin discussed the unimpeded access of Russian agricultural products to the markets during the talks in Istanbul, the Turkish Foreign Ministry told RIA Novosti.
“On December 8-9, 2022, political consultations between Turkey and the Russian Federation took place in Istanbul – between delegations led by Deputy Foreign Minister Ambassador Sedat Onal and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin. During the consultations, in addition to bilateral relations, they discussed the UN reform, the implementation of the Istanbul agreement on grain, Ukraine, the situation in Syria and the UN mechanism for cross-border humanitarian assistance, Libya, the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean,” the Foreign Ministry said.
According to its information, they discussed issues related to the implementation of the Istanbul agreement on grain, and stressed the importance of continuing the initiative, which has so far allowed to send more than 13 million tons of grain to world markets through the Black Sea, as well as facilitate the export of Russian grain and fertilizers.
The grain deal, which was signed on July 22 by representatives of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations, involves the export of Ukrainian grain, food and fertilizers through the Black Sea from three ports, including Odessa. The Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul is in charge of coordinating the movement of ships.
The agreement expired on November 18, but it was supposed to be prolonged automatically for 120 days if no party objected. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that “no such objections have been received,” while noting that the Russian side allows for a technical prolongation of the “Black Sea initiative” for the export of Ukrainian grain without any changes in the terms and scope.
The deal itself is part of a package deal, which includes unblocking Russian exports of food and fertilizers – Moscow noted that this is exactly what has not been implemented. At the same time, there were assurances from the UN that the restrictions would be lifted.