Turkey says it has Black Sea grain plan and is in contact with Russia, Ukraine
ISTANBUL, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Turkey has prepared a plan for the safe passage of grain via the Black Sea and is in contact with both Russia and Ukraine regarding it, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday.
Turkey has repeatedly expressed willingness to revive a U.N.-brokered deal that got grain out of Ukraine during wartime.
“We have prepared a plan and we are in contact with both sides regarding this plan,” Fidan told a press conference in Istanbul. “If the necessary conditions emerge, we are working in particular to achieve another agreement similar to the grain deal.”
Turkey and the United Nations helped mediate the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative which was agreed in July 2022 to allow the safe export of nearly 33 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, despite the war.
Russia withdrew from the agreement in 2023, complaining that its own food and fertiliser exports faced serious obstacles.
(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun, Writing by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Daren Butler and Tomasz Janowski)
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