Turkish President announces extension of Ukrainian grain agreement

Cargo ships loaded with grain in the Bosphorus Strait, October 2022. AFP - OZAN KOSE

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced this Saturday, March 18, the extension of the international agreement on the export of Ukrainian cereals, during a televised speech, without specifying the duration.

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Once again, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the main mediator between Kiev and Moscow, reserves the first of the announcement. The Turkish head of state, campaigning for re-election in the May 14 election, recalled the importance of the grain agreement and its extension, reports Anne Andlauer, our correspondent in Istanbul.

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The agreement on grain corridors – which is, along with prisoner exchanges, the largest agreement between Russia and Ukraine since the beginning of the war – expired today. Following our discussions with both parties, we secured its extension. This agreement, which has already enabled the delivery of 25 million tonnes of grain to world markets, is of vital importance for the stability of the world's food supply," the Turkish President said.

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This agreement is vitally important for the world's food supply. I thank Russia and Ukraine, who have spared no effort to further extend the agreement, as well as the UN Secretary-General," Erdogan said.

Differences between Kiev and Moscow over the duration of the extension

The Turkish president did not specify the duration of this extension, and doubt continues to hover because of contradictory statements. Welcoming the announcement, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the agreement was extended by 120 days. "The Black Sea Grain Initiative is extended by 120 days. We thank Antonio Guterres, the United Nations, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, (Turkish) Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and all our partners for confirming this agreement," he tweeted.

#BlackSeaGrainInitiative agreement is extended for 120 days. Grateful to @antonioguterres @UN, President Erdoğan, Minister Hulusi Akar & all our partners for sticking to the agreements. Due our joint efforts, 25M tons of🇺🇦 grain delivered to world markets pic.twitter.com/4bye93iQ7d

— Oleksandr Kubrakov (@OlKubrakov) March 18, 2023

Moscow has agreed to an extension of the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain for only 60 days, said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry. We see statements from different parties that the 'grain deal' has been extended by 120 days," she was quoted as saying by Russia's Interfax news agency. "We have repeatedly said that (...) The Russian side had informed all stakeholders that the agreement was extended for 60 days.

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The UN did its best to save the mechanism

The Black Sea Grain Initiative signed in July 2022 by Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, with the help of the UN, has alleviated the global food crisis caused by the war in Ukraine by allowing the export of nearly 25 million tons of maize, wheat and other grains.

According to its terms, the agreement was to be "automatically extended for the same period (of 120 days, editor's note) unless one of the parties notifies the other of its intention to terminate or modify it". It had actually been extended by 120 days in November, until Saturday, March 18 at 23:59 p.m. Istanbul time (20:59 GMT).

► READ ALSO: Moscow wants to extend the grain agreement for 60 days only, Kiev criticizes the conditions

But on March 13, Russia, unhappy with the implementation of a second agreement to facilitate its own fertilizer exports, said it only agreed to a 60-day extension. Since then, the UN has done everything possible to save this mechanism, which has helped calm the price surge since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Turkey, where the joint coordination center of the agreement that organizes the control of the ships is located, had said Friday still hoped for an extension of 120 days.

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  • Turkey
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  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan
  • Agriculture and Fisheries
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