U.N. Secretary General says Black Sea grain deal extended

Reuters:

Nov 17 – The United Nations Secretary General said on Thursday he welcomed an agreement by all parties to extend the Black Sea grain deal to facilitate Ukraine’s agricultural exports from its southern Black Sea ports.

The agreement, initially reached in July, created a protected sea transit corridor and was designed to alleviate global food shortages by allowing exports to resume from three ports in Ukraine, a major producer of grains and oilseeds.

“I welcome the agreement by all parties to continue the Black Sea grain initiative to facilitate the safe navigation of export of grain, foodstuffs and fertilisers from Ukraine,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on Thursday.

Guterres said the UN was also “fully committed to removing the remaining obstacles to exporting food and fertilisers from the Russian Federation” – a part of the deal Moscow sees as critical.

Since July, some 11.1 million tonnes of agricultural products have been shipped, including 4.5 million tonnes of corn and 3.2 million tonnes of wheat.