As part of the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, 12 ships have so far been allowed to leave Ukrainian ports, the United Nations said on Thursday.
These ships, which were blocked in the three ports covered by the initiative when the conflict began, contain more than 370,000 tons of cereals and other food stocks, said the acting coordinator for the UN of the Coordination Center (CCC). Black Sea Initiative joint venture, Frederick Kenney, during a press briefing with reporters in New York via video link from Istanbul.
He noted that the initiative specifically enables the export of large volumes of commercial foodstuffs from three key Ukrainian Black Sea ports, namely Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny.
During the signing ceremony of the agreement in Istanbul, Türkiye, on July 22, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, called the initiative “a beacon of hope” in a world that desperately needs it. .
He also announced the creation of a joint coordination center to monitor the implementation of the agreement. This center is based in Istanbul and includes representatives from Ukraine, Russia and Türkiye.
For Mr Kenney, the initiative had produced detailed procedures to be followed by participating vessels, which were “disseminated to the shipping industry earlier this week”.
“Our priority is to free up berth space in these ports for ships to come and pick up new cargo,” he said, adding that four ships have been allowed to move through ports in the Ukrainian fleet so far. now for loading.
Recalling that this agreement is spread over a period of 120 days, the UN official conceded that a lot of work remains to be done so that the implementation of the initiative translates into concrete results to fight against food insecurity in the world and stabilize global food markets.
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