Turkey’s Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahid Kırıçı stated that 63 percent of the grain transported through the Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea was shipped to European countries.
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In his speech on Monday during the World Food Day event, Kirićci said that only 5.6 percent of the grain transported through the Black Sea was delivered to the least developed countries.
He added that 24 percent of the grain was transported to Asia and 13 percent to Africa, while the percentage of grain shipped to Europe was 63 percent.
He stated that grain transportation operations began in early August under the Istanbul Agreement, and that as of October 15, the total grain transported to the world amounted to 7.5 million tons.
He pointed out that the issue of transporting grain from Ukrainian ports was on the agenda of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week.
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He added that Turkey stressed the need to keep the grain corridor open for the next four months in order to secure food supply chains and ensure food security and world peace.
On July 27, the city of Istanbul witnessed the opening of the coordination center to ensure the safe shipment of grain from Ukrainian ports, which includes representatives from Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations.
On July 22 of the same month, under the auspices of President Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a signing ceremony took place in Istanbul for the “Document on the Initiative for the Safe Shipping of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian Ports” between Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations.
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The agreement guarantees securing grain exports from the Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea (Eastern Europe) to the world.
