Kiev 20th August : UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the Ukrainian port city of Odessa to witness the recently restarted export of grain.Guterres said that the resumption of exports of food in the wake of the agreement with Russia was a pleasant surprise however, he was also sad seeing the port’s almost empty terminals, as per the United Nations press service on Friday.
In the same vein, he praised July’s agreement reached by the warring sides under UN and Turkish mediation.In less than one month more than 600,000 tonnes of grain has been shipped out of Ukraine in 25 vessels, he added.
The UN chief pointed out the need to provide access to Ukrainian and Russian exports of food According to the UN as reported by the DPA news agency.
The process of bringing more food and fertiliser to come out of Ukraine and Russia is crucial for the prices and markets for commodities, he said, adding that nobody could have imagined that the deployment of this initiative to be simple.
Following Russia attacked Ukraine in February of last year, Ukrainian ports were shut down for several months.Ukraine is considered to be one of the top exporters of grains.
A significant portion of the cargo that has left Ukraine up to now has been sent to states that are more prosperous despite the fact that the UN had previously stated that the grain agreement was vital due to of the risk of the threat of famine in African as well as Asian countries.
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