For the first time, Ukraine will send 2,453.26 tons of sunflower oil to five African countries – the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Djibouti, Mauritania, and Palestine – as part of the humanitarian food initiative Grain from Ukraine, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
“We are fulfilling the mission of our country, ensuring food security in the world. And we are expanding humanitarian supplies, as announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the second Grain from Ukraine summit. We supply not only grain, but also corn, peas, and now sunflower oil. This oil will be shipped in containers from the ports of Greater Odesa,” said Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Markiyan Dmytrasevych.
Marianne Ward, Acting Director of the UN World Food Program in Ukraine, said that more than 200 thousand tons of agricultural products will be shipped under Grain from Ukraine. Many donor countries have already joined the initiative, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Luxembourg.
Mr. Dmytrasevych emphasized the important role of the UN World Food Program in supporting Ukrainians from the frontline areas and internally displaced persons. According to him, in the near future Ukraine will transfer grain for processing to the World Food Program for the production of pasta and bread. These goods will be sent to residents of the frontline areas.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food together with the World Food Program (WFP) are sending humanitarian goods under the Grain from Ukraine program.
As reported, a total of 10 ships with more than 200 thousand tons of agricultural products were sent within the initiative to Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Yemen, Nigeria, Sudan, Palestine, and Yemen.
The Grain from Ukraine initiative was launched by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in partnership with the UN World Food Program (WFP) to minimize the damage caused to the global food system by Russian aggression and the attempted blockade of Ukrainian ports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that ten African states where Ukraine will open new embassies next year have already been determined.
“We are resetting relations with dozens of African countries. Next year we have to strengthen it. Ten states where new Ukrainian embassies in Africa will be opened have already been determined. We have also developed the concept of the Ukraine-Africa Trading House with the opening of its representative offices in the capitals of the continent’s most promising countries,” Zelensky said at the Ukrainian ambassadors’ conference “War and New Horizons in the World” on Friday.
The President stressed that “in addition to the existing representation of Ukraine in ten countries in Africa, together with new embassies and trading houses, it is necessary to achieve representation in thirty countries of the African continent.”
At the same time, the head of state noted that global growth is impossible without relations with other parts of the Global South as well.
“Latin America, India, other Asian countries, including China and Southeast Asia, the entire Indian and Pacific island region. Ukraine must find a format for its leadership in strategic processes in each of these regions, and the role of Ukraine’s diplomatic corps will be decisive,” Zelensky said.
On October 3-12, the first tour of the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to African countries in the history of Ukrainian diplomacy will take place, Minister Kuleba will begin the tour with a visit to Senegal.
As the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes, the tour is an important element of the African strategy, developed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and which has become a “road map” for the development of relations between our state and the region.
The key topic of the minister’s talks will be the consolidation of political support for Ukraine from the countries of the global south against the backdrop of Russian aggression, in particular, the latest attempt to annex Ukrainian territories.
Other priorities of the negotiations will be strengthening the role of Ukraine as a guarantor of world food security, deepening cooperation in the field of education, promoting Ukrainian IT products, in particular the Action platform, creating new opportunities for Ukrainian exports using the capabilities of the Nazovni system. Within the framework of the visits, a number of business forums with the participation of leading Ukrainian and African companies are also planned.
The visits of the Foreign Minister will open a new section of cooperation with the countries of the African continent and will contribute to the implementation of Ukraine’s global and proactive diplomacy.
The minister’s tour will also be a preparation for a large-scale Ukraine-Africa conference.
