President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday expressed hope that a vital deal that freed up grain exports from Ukraine would remain in place, with Russia also saying it had seen “certain progress” toward addressing its concerns over the pact that is due to expire this weekend.
Brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye, the July deal helped ease concerns about global food security after enabling Ukraine to ship grain via the Black Sea without hindrance from Russia’s invasion.
The agreement created a protected sea transit corridor and allowed exports to resume from three ports in Ukraine, a major producer of grains and oilseeds, after an almost six-month blockade.
The pact is due to roll over on Nov. 19 unless there are objections.
Moscow has said its agreement depends on provisions to ensure it can export its grain and fertilizer despite the obstacles created by Western sanctions. Russia is a major agricultural producer and the world's largest exporter of wheat.
“As of now, I think that the (grain agreement) will continue,” Erdoğan told a press conference at the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. Erdoğan said Ankara is making efforts to extend the deal by a year.
“As soon as we return, we will continue our talks, especially with Mr. Putin. Because the way to peace is through dialogue.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday also said Putin and Erdoğan could hold talks within a matter of hours on the topic if it was deemed necessary.
Peskov said Russia had seen “certain progress” toward addressing its concerns over the deal and said, “let’s wait for the remaining days to see the outcome.”
“You know that we are mainly talking about the part of the agreement that was designed to ensure the removal of restrictions on the supply of Russian products to foreign markets,” he told reporters.
“Experts are working intensively. Contacts with the U.N. have been quite constructive.”
In a further signal that the deal could be rolled over smoothly, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said Russia spoke in favor of extending the initiative at this week’s G-20 summit, as long as more grain was sent to countries in the greatest need.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who led the Russian delegation at the summit in place of Putin, said, “We are in favor of continuing the grain deal, but we are in favor of ensuring that the grain supplied under the Black Sea arrangements goes specifically to countries that need the grain, rather than to Western countries and countries with European economies, as is currently the case,” Siluanov told state-run RT news channel on Wednesday.
“We, therefore, spoke in favor of continuing this deal under the control of the grain supply destinations, so that this grain goes to the countries that are really in need,” he noted.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin on Wednesday said Russia wants no disruption of global food security efforts,
“We are people for whom the humanitarian dimension of the issue is not an empty word,” Vershinin was quoted as saying in the interview released by Izvestia daily early on Wednesday.
If Western statements about exemptions from sanctions for Russia’s food exports are put into practice, “everything would continue on normal terms” for the deal, he said.
Ukraine has already set out a plan to export more grain to poor countries. Kyiv wants to feed at least 5 million more people facing acute food shortages by the end of next spring, according to proposals set out by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday.
A separate agreement brokered by the U.N. and Türkiye also signed in July allows the export of Russian food and fertilizers despite Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Erdoğan said the export of fertilizers and ammonia “is important.”
“The work is going on. We will discuss this with Putin,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has exported almost 15.6 million tons of grain so far in the 2022/23 season, down 30.8% from the 22.5 million tons exported by the same stage of the previous season, Agriculture Ministry data showed on Wednesday.
The volume included almost 6 million tons of wheat, 8.3 million tons of corn and 1.3 million tons of barley.
Ministry data showed that 2.36 million tons of various grains were exported in the first half of November, 22.4% less than in the same period a year ago.
The government has said Ukraine could harvest between 50 million and 52 million tons of grain this year, down from a record 86 million tons in 2021 because of the loss of land to Russian forces and lower yields.
