Ukraine urges restoration of Black Sea grain initiative

ISLAMABAD, (Reuters): Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday called for the restoration of the Black Sea grain initiative to meet the challenge of global food insecurity.

Kuleba is visiting Islamabad on a two-day trip.

His counterpart in Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto Zardari endorsed his comments, saying he planned to take the issue up with the secretary general of the United Nations.

The Black Sea grain deal expired on Monday after Russia quit it.

“We had to find the way to export our grain to the global market,” said Kuleba, adding, “land corridors cannot export the full amount of cereals available for export, this is the issue, which means prices will go up because of shortages of delivery.”

This is why it is so important to make everything possible to restore the Black Sea grain initiative, he said.