A U.N.-brokered deal making it possible for Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea has been extended for two months, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday, averting the threat of a halt to shipmentsat a time of deepening world hunger.
“With the efforts of our country, the support of our Russian friends and the contributions of our Ukrainian friends, it was decided to extend the Black Sea Grain Corridor Agreement for another 2 months,” Erdoğan said in a tweet. “Good luck to the whole world.”
The fate of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, struck between the United Nations, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine last July, had hung in the balance after the Kremlin warned that from this Thursday, it would no longer be in a position to guarantee the safety of ships passing through the Bosphorus to collect cargoes from Ukraine’s southern ports and deliver them to world markets.
With Erdoğan leading after the first round of voting in a presidential election last Sunday, analysts had speculated that Russian President Vladimir Putin would say yes to an extension to the deal to maximize the Turkish leader’s chances of prevailing over challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in a runoff on May 28.
“The continuation is good news for the world,” said U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, welcoming the news.
“The importance of the Black Sea initiative, and the parallel memorandum of understanding between the U.N. and the Russian Federation is clear. These agreements matter for global food security. Ukrainian and Russian products feed the world,” he added.
Guterres was referring to a second agreement last July under which the U.N. pledged to facilitate Russia’s food and fertilizer exports for three years that Moscow says has been hobbled by Western sanctions against its businessmen and state agricultural bank.
Inspections by the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Centre had slowed to a crawl in the runup to the deadline, denting Ukrainian seaborne exports. At the same time, Ukraine has increased shipments westward, leading to a supply glut in Eastern Europe.
In total, more than 30 million metric tons have been shipped under the Black Sea initiative, which lifted a blockade of Ukrainian seaborne exports resulting from Russia’s invasion in February of last year.
Confirming the news, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the deal had been extended to July 18. “Main challenge now is to make #BSGI efficient by [canceling] artificial barriers,” Kubrakov said in a tweet, highlighting delays to evacuating Ukrainian volumes.
Tass, the Russian state news agency, cited an unnamed official as saying that the grain deal would be extended automatically if Moscow didn’t directly object. This had not happened as of Wednesday afternoon.
This story has been updated.