In New Delhi, on March 1, a meeting was held between the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, during which the parties discussed the prospects for a grain deal.
“When discussing the prospects for the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Russian side emphasized that the continuation of the “package” agreement on grain is possible only if the interests of Russian producers of agricultural products and fertilizers are taken into account in terms of unhindered access to world markets,” the statement says. message on the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In addition, the ministers paid attention to the work of the countries concerned on the normalization of Turkish-Syrian relations.
A few days ago, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Property, Land and Property Relations, Sergei Gavrilov, told Izvestia that the grain deal could not be extended in its current status.
On February 22, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yuriy Vaskov said that Ukraine would ask Turkey and the UN to start negotiations to extend the grain deal for at least one year.
At the same time, in January, the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated that most of the products under the Black Sea Grain Initiative do not go to poor countries, as expected, but to high-income countries.
The food deal was concluded on July 22, 2022 in Istanbul. Then Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and UN Secretary General António Guterres signed a memorandum on facilitating the supply of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets. At the same time, the Ukrainian delegation signed an agreement with Turkey and the UN on the export of grain.
The contract expired on November 18, 2022, but included an automatic extension of 120 days. The agreement expires March 18, 2023.
