The United Nations expects an agreement signed last week in Turkey resuming exports to be implemented in a few weeks
ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuters) — The United Nations expects a deal to resume Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea to be fully operational in a few weeks and restore shipments to pre-war levels of five-million tonnes a month, two senior UN officials said July 22.
Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN signed the deal in Istanbul in what Turkey has said will mark the first step toward easing an international food crisis exacerbated by Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s top food exporters and Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion has blockaded Ukrainian ports, stranding dozens of ships, leaving 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos and driving up world grain prices.
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The UN officials said the parties agreed to the general outline of the initiative such as the ports involved, the establishment of a monitoring centre in Istanbul, ways of inspecting the ships involved, and the limitations of the plan.
“We are looking at a very quick rate of implementation,” one of the officials said. “We start (Saturday) to establish the Joint Co-ordination Centre,” the person said, adding that minor issues remained to be worked out before the initiative could be put fully into effect.
“We are talking about a few weeks before we will see proper implementation of vessels going in and out,” the official said, although there could be an “initial movement of ships” to show that the mechanism will work.
Under the plan, Ukrainian officials will guide ships through safe channels across mined waters to three ports, including the major hub of Odesa, where they will be loaded with grain.
Ships will then exit Ukrainian territorial waters in the Black Sea, transit the Bosphorus strait to a Turkish port for inspection and later head to their destinations.
The plan will be initially active for 120 days but will be renewable, the UN officials said, adding they “do not anticipate to stop it any time soon”.
“The fact that two parties at war — and still very much at war — have been able to negotiate an agreement of this kind… I think that’s unprecedented,” the official said.
Asked how the implementation of the plan would be monitored, the official said representatives from all parties would work in the JCC to oversee operations, vessel inspections, and possible incidents. Both Ukraine and Russia have agreed not to attack any vessels involved in the initiative, the officials said.
The UN has been working for more than two months with NATO member Turkey, which has a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, to broker what UN secretary general Antonio Guterres called a package deal to both resume Kyiv’s exports and facilitate Russian grain and fertilizer shipments.
The second UN official said a separate pact signed July 22 would smooth Russian food and fertilizer exports and that the UN welcomed supportive clarifications from the United States and European Union on sanctions against Russia.
