Scholz Says UN-Brokered Grain Deal Important, Hoping For Further Agreements

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2023) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday the UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal was very important for food security and that he hoped for further agreements.

"Food security is at stake and this why it is good that the (UN) Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres) is doing so much work in order to enable the grain deal that enabled the export of Ukrainian grain from Ukraine and we hope there will be further agreements. This agreement has great importance indeed," Scholz said during a national briefing after the European Council meeting in Brussels.

In July 2022, Ukraine and Russia signed a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to unblock shipments of grain, food, and fertilizer in the Black Sea despite hostilities. Moscow has repeatedly said that most vessels carrying Ukrainian grain do not reach the world's poorest countries and end up in Europe.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated the call to comply with all the provisions of the grain deal so that the products were sent not to "well-fed European countries," but to Africa, which currently received only 3% of all grain exported from Ukraine.