US Actively Exploring More Options To Help Get More Grain To Global Markets - State Dept.

The United States is actively exploring ways to get more Ukrainian grain to the world markets, US Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Administrator for Policy and Programming Isobel Coleman said on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2022) The United States is actively exploring ways to get more Ukrainian grain to the world markets, US Agency for International Development (USAID) Deputy Administrator for Policy and Programming Isobel Coleman said on Friday.

"We are actively exploring all options to help get more grains on to market, as well as focus on scaling up emergency food operations in countries impacted most severely by the food security crisis," Coleman told reporters during a virtual press briefing.

Coleman noted that the US government has launched several multibillion-dollar initiatives to support the export of Ukrainian grain.

"We are responding at scale and speed to help those most in need, but far more resources are needed, and this will truly have to be a global response," she said.

Coleman pointed out that the UN World Food Program sent out the first ship earlier this week to transport 23,000 tonnes of wheat from Ukraine.

"This shipment will support the humanitarian response including places with acute needs, including in Horn of Africa," she said.

On Thursday, Russian National Defense Control Center head Mikhail Mizintsev said that 53 foreign vessels remain blocked in Ukrainian ports.

Mizintsev noted that under the United Nations- and Turkey-brokered grain deal, a total of 21 ships have left Ukraine since August 1 carrying 563,318 tonnes of food cargo, including wheat, sunflower, corn, soybeans, sunflower and flour.