Senegal plans to facilitate Ukrainian grain exports - Ukrainian minister

MOSCOW. Jan 16 (Interfax) - Ukraine and Senegal will continue developing relations in facilitating shipments of Ukrainian agricultural produce, Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Nikolai Solsky said at a press briefing in Kiev on Monday, the Ukrainian media reported.

"There have been meetings in Ghana, Senegal, and Nigeria. These countries regularly take a lot of food products, especially wheat. These are major markets from the standpoint of their populations compared to the European market or many other countries. It doesn't have such purchasing power, but it is big and is developing, and therefore, it needs to be monitored," Ukrainian media quoted Solsky as saying.

Solsky said each country he has visited is interested in developing cooperation with Ukraine and stands ready to expand the capacity of their ports to increase the volume of Ukrainian grain unloaded and stored there.

After the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry's delegation visited Africa, Ukrainian authorities are planning to hold a special conference to address ways to expand relations with Senegal, Ghana, and Nigeria, he said.

As reported earlier, while visiting a number of African countries recently, an Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry delegation signed a memorandum of understanding on developing cooperation with Senegal in the agricultural sector. In addition, Ukraine is to ship 25,000 tonnes of grain to Nigeria under the Grain from Ukraine initiative within the next few months.