UN Leads Efforts to Resume Grain Exports from Ukraine

The United Nations (UN) confirmed yesterday that it had held negotiations to allow the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain stuck in the Black Sea ports and prevent a global food crisis.

These efforts are being led by the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths and the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebecca Greenspan, according to what the United Nations Coordinator in Ukraine Amin Awad revealed in Geneva yesterday.

"There are a lot of shuttle flights between Moscow and other countries that are concerned, but I don't think there is a solution looming very clearly at the moment," Awad said.

In a related context, the signs of a food crisis dominated talks held by Russian President Vladimir Putin with Senegalese President Macky Sall, whose country is currently chairing the African Union, yesterday.

At the beginning of the meeting, Sall said: "I have come to meet you to ask you to realize that our countries are victims of this crisis on the economic front." He also called for keeping the food sector "outside the sanctions" imposed by the West on Russia.