Grain from Ukraine will start coming out in the coming days, which will open a corridor through the Black Sea to many countries in the world, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today, who along with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attended a signing ceremony in Istanbul of an agreement on the safe transportation of grain and food products from Ukrainian ports across the Black Sea, Anadolu Agency reported.
“We are proud to have contributed to an initiative that will play a huge role in solving the global food crisis affecting the world for a long time,” the Turkish president said. “We will contribute to preventing the danger of hunger hanging over billions of people around the world,” he added.
According to Erdogan, the agreement affects all processes – from the departure of the ships through their safe passage to their arrival at the final port.
“The implementation and supervision of this extremely important plan will be carried out by a joint coordination center that will be established in Istanbul,” he pointed out.
The agreement was signed following an agreement reached between the parties during talks in Istanbul on July 13 on a UN plan to form a coordination center to carry out joint inspections at the entrance and exit of the ports and ensure the safety of the routes.
Turkey, whose mediating role was internationally appreciated, coordinated with Moscow and Kyiv to open a corridor from the Ukrainian port of Odessa in order to resume global grain supplies blocked due to the war in Ukraine, Anadolu Agency reminds.
Erdogan also called on Russia and Ukraine to end the five-month-old war, saying: “I would like this joint step we are taking in Istanbul with the Russian and Ukrainian sides to be a new turning point that will revive hopes for peace.”
In a speech before the ceremony, Guterres thanked Turkey for its “cooperation and persistence” in signing the agreement.
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