UN Mediated Vessel With Russia Fertilizers Failed To Reach Malawi In 5 Months - Diplomat

The only vessel with Russian fertilizers donated to Malawi with the mediation of the United Nations has not yet reached this country in almost five months, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexei Yerkhov said on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2023) The only vessel with Russian fertilizers donated to Malawi with the mediation of the United Nations has not yet reached this country in almost five months, Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexei Yerkhov said on Thursday.

Last year, Russia initiated to send free of charge over 262,000 tonnes of fertilizers blocked in the ports of Latvia, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands to the poorest countries, and sent an official appeal to the UN Secretary General on September 7.

"The first and only batch of 20,000 tonnes of products was shipped from the Netherlands to Malawi on November 28, 2022. The Russian side additionally bore all costs of cargo delivery and transportation, and also paid for the 'intermediary services' of the UN World food Programme of $200,000.

Although this delivery is a humanitarian operation and providing assistance to those in need on the eve of the new planting season," Yerkhov said.

The diplomat noted that the fertilizers arrived at the port of Mozambique on December 28 and should now be on their way to Malawi.

"Thus, it has already taken almost five months to send only one small part of the fertilizers free of charge under the auspices of the UN, and the cargo has not yet reached the recipient. We can only guess how long it will take to unblock and deliver the remaining 242,000 tonnes of products," Yerkhov said.