UN chief Guterres visits Odessa port to see grain exports in action
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Kiev, Aug 20 (IANS): UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the Ukrainian port city of Odessa to see the recently resumed export of grain.
Guterres said the resumption of food exports following a deal with Russia was pleasing, but that he also felt sadness looking at the port’s practically empty terminals, according to the United Nations press service on Friday.
At the same time, he praised July’s agreement reached by the warring parties under UN and Turkish mediation. In less than a month, more than 600,000 tons of grain have left Ukraine in 25 ships, he added.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (C) and Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov (R) during a visit to the Odesa grain port, in Odesa, Ukraine, 19 August 2022. Guterres arrived in Ukraine the previous day to meet with President Zelensky and Turkish President Erdogan for talks on improving the grain initiative and the situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The port of Odesa is being used for the export of Ukrainian grain through the Ukraine-Russia agreement promoted by the UN and Turkey. Russian troops on 24 February entered Ukrainian territory, starting a conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis. EPA-EFE/STR
The UN chief stressed the need to ensure access to both Ukrainian and Russian food exports, according to the UN as quoted by dpa news agency report.
Getting more food and fertiliser out of Ukraine and Russia is important for commodity markets and prices, he said, adding that no one expected the implementation of the initiative to be easy.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Ukrainian ports were blocked for months. The country is one of the world’s top grain exporters.
A large part of the cargo leaving Ukraine so far has gone to richer states, even though the UN had said the grain agreement was crucial because of the threat of famine in African and Asian countries.
