A memorandum is expected to be signed between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations next week which may re-allow the export of grain from Ukraine – July 20 or 21 possible meeting
The world’s largest grain exporters, the Ukraine and the Russiaare seeing positive signs in talks that could lead to the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea after talks in Istanbul on Wednesday, their officials said.
Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations intend to sign an agreement next week that will help restart Ukrainian grain exports, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said after the talks ended, although UN chief Antonio Guterres he was a little more careful.
Ukraine is “undoubtedly one step closer to the result”, the country’s Minister of Agricultural Economy told Reuters today Alexander Kubrakov.
There was indeed a substantial discussion on this issue in Istanbul, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters today. “It became possible to formulate some elements of a possible agreement that Russia, Ukraine and Turkey are now discussing in their capitals through their military services,” Zakharova said.
Ukraine’s Black Sea ports have been blockaded since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, sending international wheat and sunflower oil prices skyrocketing. Wheat prices in Chicago have since fallen to pre-war levels due to the new crop in the northern hemisphere.
Wheat prices in France also fell 2 percent today, partly due to talks that may establish a safe sea route through which Ukraine’s grain will be transported to international markets and partly due to improved forecasts for the new crop.
An initial date for the next quadrilateral meeting is July 20 or 21, Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, the date for the next meeting is not yet clear.
Any deal will require the removal of mines from Black Sea ports and political will, although Moscow and Kyiv are still far from a peace deal.
“The information about a technical decision to create in Istanbul a coordinating center for Ukrainian grain exports, logically means that there is no political decision yet, and this is not surprising,” said Bohdan Yaremenko, a deputy from the party of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The grain talks are a priority for the Russian military, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today: “If there is a need to announce the results of the negotiations, the military will do it.”
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