Sweden will support the Grain from Ukraine initiative to ensure food security by providing an additional SEK 100 million (approximately $9.6 million) through the UN World Food Program (WFP), Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a live webcast of the initiative’s summit in Kyiv on November 25.
For his part, Swiss President Alain Berset, who attended the summit, announced that Switzerland would contribute to the relief effort by providing CHF 3 million (about $3.4 million) to the World Food Program.
“As a result of Russia’s military aggression, agricultural production in Ukraine has fallen by 45%; about 11 million people in the country are dependent on food aid,” the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine said in a Facebook post.
“It is admirable how Ukraine is defending its country against Russia’s ongoing aggression and at the same time contributing to the global food supply. We support Ukraine’s efforts to export grain and other agricultural products to world markets and to the most vulnerable countries,” the Swedish government’s website quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
It is specified that since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Sweden has allocated more than SEK 28 billion for various efforts to support Ukraine.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonite announced an additional EUR 2 million at the summit. Another EUR 3 million was provided by Finland.
Following the summit, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that last year, the Grain from Ukraine program managed to attract about $180 million, while this year it has raised more than $100 million.
“This is support for other countries and support for Ukrainian exports and farmers. This is very important. I think we will be able to double this figure,” the President of Ukraine said.
The second summit of the Grain from Ukraine program will be held in Kyiv on November 25, according to a press release from the Presidential Office.
As noted, on the sidelines of the third meeting of national security and foreign policy advisers in Malta, on behalf of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak held a series of bilateral meetings with advisers to the leaders of Ukraine’s partner countries.
In particular, during a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister’s Advisor Emma Aparisi, Yermak “thanked the Spanish side for the significant financial support of the humanitarian initiative Grain from Ukraine and invited them to take part in the second summit of the program to be held in Kyiv on November 25 this year.”
Ukraine and Nigeria have agreed to elaborate further on information that will ensure the effective implementation of Grain from Ukraine, a program to supply Ukrainian food to famine-stricken countries in Africa and Asia.
According to the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, the Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine Nikolay Solsky and Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Mohammad Mahmud Abubakar discussed ways to implement the humanitarian initiative in practice.
The parties voiced their vision of cooperation at all stages of the implementation of the humanitarian mission. They discussed, in particular, the possibilities of transportation of products and available types of crops for supply.
As reported, the Grain from Ukraine humanitarian program, which was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a speech before the G-20 and which will be implemented in partnership with the UN WFP, provides for the provision of grain to at least 5 million people until the end of spring 2023.
As part of the program, Ukraine has decided to send some of its grain reserves to those African countries where there is already a hunger problem. Some of the grain ready for export can be purchased by the project participating states, thereby international partners can simultaneously support the Ukrainian economy in a difficult situation and help poor African countries.
By the end of November 2002, more than 30 countries and international organizations had joined Grain from Ukraine, raising a total of more than $180 million.
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Greece, Estonia, EU, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Qatar, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Slovenia, USA, Turkey, Hungary, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden and Japan, as well as NATO and UN.
