Russia Cooperating With UN To Normalize Food, Fertilizer Exports - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th August, 2022) Moscow is actively cooperating with the UN to unblock the exports of Russian fertilizers, grain and other products to resolve the problem of food security, Director of the Department of International Organizations at the Russian Foreign Ministry Pyotr Ilyichev said in an interview with Sputnik.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Lviv on Wednesday, where he will attend a trilateral meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Friday, the Secretary General is expected to visit Odesa, and the next day he will visit the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, formed as part of the UN-brokered grain deal.

"Regarding the fulfillment by the UN of its obligations to normalize the supply of Russian food, fertilizers and raw materials for their production to global markets, I would like to note the following: we are actively cooperating with the UN Secretariat. It, in turn, is conducting targeted work with Washington, Brussels and private foreign companies. The entire world, primarily developing countries, is interested in stabilization of international food markets," Ilyichev said.

He noted that when the artificial illegitimate obstacles the West created for Russian companies carrying out foreign economic activity are eliminated, it will be possible to restore the normal functioning of supply chains and solve other tasks related to ensuring food security.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu signed in Istanbul on July 22 two related documents to address the problems of food and fertilizer supplies to world markets. The first one, a memorandum, stipulates the obligation of the UN to remove various restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to global markets.

The second defines the algorithm for the exportation of Ukrainian agricultural products from the Black Sea ports controlled by Ukraine. The second document is based on the algorithm proposed by Russia, according to which a maritime humanitarian corridor is created for the safe exit of commercial ships from the Black Sea ports controlled by Ukraine and back.