UN secretary-general pledges further attempts to remove obstacles to Russian food, fertilizer exports

NEW YORK, UN. March 15 (Interfax) - Russia has been experiencing problems with food and fertilizer exports, and it's a task of the United Nations to help solve them, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

"Some obstacles remain, notably with regard to payment system," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, quoted him as saying.

"Our efforts to overcome those obstacles will continue unabated," Guterres said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said earlier this week that Russia has no objections to the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative but just for 60 days and its further stance will depend on actual progress in the normalization of Russian agricultural exports.

Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths, and a Russian delegation led by Vershinin held talks in Geneva on Monday.

The grain deal was concluded in Istanbul on July 22, 2022. The UN, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine signed two documents to open a grain corridor from three Ukrainian ports (Chernomorsk, Odessa and Yuzhny) and to remove barriers to Russian food and fertilizer exports. The deal was extended in November 2022 for 120 days.