WITH GRAIN DEAL IN FOCUS, PUTIN TO MEET ERDOGAN IN RUSSIA

Mon 04 September 2023:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will try to persuade Putin to return to a Ukraine grain export deal that had helped ease a global food crisis when the two leaders meet in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi.

“The current status [of the grain deal] will be discussed at the summit on Monday. We are cautious, but we hope to achieve success,” Erdogan’s chief foreign policy and security adviser Akif Cagatay Kilic said in an interview on Turkey’s A Haber television channel.

Russia quit the deal in July, a year after it was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations. It allowed Ukraine to safely export farm products from its Black Sea ports during the war. But Russia complained that its own food and fertiliser exports faced obstacles and that not enough Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need.

Erdogan had played a significant role in persuading Putin to stick with the grain deal before Russia unilaterally pulled out of it.

Russia and Ukraine are key agricultural producers and major players in the wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed, rapeseed oil, sunflower seed and sunflower oil markets.

After Russia suspended its participation in Ukraine grain export deal, brokered by Türkiye and the UN, Ankara continues its efforts for the resumption of the deal.

Moscow has complained that the West has not met its obligations regarding Russia’s own grain exports, and that not enough Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need. It says restrictions on payments, logistics, and insurance have been a barrier to its shipments.

Confirming the importance of fulfilling Russia’s demands for the export of its own grain and fertilizer, Türkiye says there is no alternative to the initiative.

Ankara has been carrying out intense diplomatic efforts for the restoration of the July 2022 deal and has also called on Kyiv and Moscow to end the war through negotiations.

In July, Erdoğan also met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul to discuss the matters.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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