U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has announced that the United Nations is working with the United States and European Union to overcome obstacles to Russian food and fertilisers reaching global markets.
The UN chief said that under a U.N.-brokered deal agreed in Turkey last month to resume Ukraine’s grain exports cut off since Russia’s invasion in February, more than 650,000 metric tonnes of grain and other food was already being exported.
Gutteres noted that those countries that imposed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine had made it clear that the measures did not apply to food and fertilisers, but added there had nevertheless been a “chilling effect” on exports.
He however explained that the UN was working with Washington and the EU to remove a number of obstacles, including to shipping, insurance and finance.
While food exports resumed in Ukraine, Guterres said Russian produce was also crucial.
Russia and Ukraine accounted for around a third of global wheat exports before Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, which Moscow calls a special military operation. Russia is also a major exporter of fertiliser.
