ISTANBUL: Turkey announced a deal with Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations on Wednesday aimed at resuming Ukrainian grain exports blocked by Russia, raising prospects for an end to a standoff that has exposed millions to the risk of starvation.
Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said the deal would be signed when the parties meet again next week and included joint controls for checking grains in ports and Turkey ensuring the safety of Black Sea export routes for Ukrainian grain.
Turkey would also set up a coordination centre with Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations for grain exports, he said.
Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February in what has become Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two, had said earlier that a deal appeared just “two steps away” as Turkey hosted the four-way talks in Istanbul.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said a “critical step forward” had been made toward reviving Ukrainian grain exports but cautioned that “more technical work will now be needed to materialize today’s progress”.
“Next week, hopefully, we’ll be able to have a final agreement. But, as I said, we still need a lot of goodwill and commitments by all parties,” he told reporters in New York.
Guterres added that although Ukraine and Russia had engaged diplomatically, “for peace we still have a long way to go”.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine or Russia, both among the world’s largest grain exporters.
Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Pyotr Ilyichev, head of the international organisations department at Russia’s foreign ministry, earlier in the day as saying Russia wanted to control and inspect grain vessels itself to rule out arms smuggling. –Agencies
