Grain initiative helps ease food crisis - Zelensky
MOSCOW. Aug 15 (Interfax) - The implementation of the Ukrainian grain export deal has helped relieve the food crisis, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"It's very important that the grain export initiative is producing results. Since the start of its implementation, 16 vessels with grain for seven countries on three continents have departed Ukrainian ports. These are Europe, Asia, and Africa," Ukrainian media quoted Zelensky as saying in its regular video address on Saturday.
"Nearly half a million tonnes of agricultural produce are on board, including corn, wheat, sunflower oil, soybeans, and other products absolutely necessary on the global market," he said.
"This has helped relieve the acuteness of the food crisis and given some hope for confidence to the countries using our agricultural produce. And in the future, it may help completely remove the food crisis from the global agenda," he said.
"The first ship has arrived to be loaded under the UN World Food Program to deliver grain, in particular, to Ethiopia, where the danger of starvation is especially serious. The vessel is currently being prepared to leave the Pivdenny port," he said.
"Over less than two weeks, the three ports, Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdenny, have managed to export an amount equal to the entire agrarian exports by road in July and more than two thirds of rail exports over the past month," he said.
"These are jobs for our people, these are funds that are necessary for our sowing campaign next year, and these are our state budget incomes. Increasing economic activities is an essential element of the path to victory," he said.
As reported on Sunday evening, the Sara and the Efe vessels had entered the Odesa port to be loaded with 8,000 tonnes of corn and about 7,500 tonnes of sunflower oil, bringing the total number of vessels that have entered Ukraine under the Black Sea grain initiative to six, Ukrainian media reported with reference to social media reports by the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority.
"We plan to engage at least ten more vessels to be loaded with Ukrainian agricultural products before the end of the month," the report quoted Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Vaskov as saying.
In the two weeks since the grain corridor has been working, 16 vessels have left Ukrainian ports to deliver nearly half a million tonnes of Ukrainian agricultural produce to nine countries, he said.
As reported earlier, representatives of Ukraine, Turkey, and Russia and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres signed two documents in Istanbul on July 22, 2022 on the safe transportation of grain and food products from the Ukrainian seaports of Odesa, Chornomorsk (Illichivsk), and Pivdennyi (Yuzhnyi).