Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is aiming to achieve the signing of an agreement on Ukrainian grain this week, Western media reported on Wednesday.
“As a result of the talks in Istanbul last week, an agreement was reached on the general outlines of the process within the framework of the UN plan. Now we want to consolidate this agreement by signing the document,” Erdogan said. He expressed the hope that the plan will begin to be implemented in the coming days.
At last week’s talks between Russia, Turkey, the UN and Ukraine on the export of Ukrainian grain, the participants agreed to establish a coordination center in Istanbul and reached an agreement on a system of joint grain control in ports.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky noted “certain progress in the negotiations in Turkey on the restoration of food exports from Ukraine through the Black Sea.
“We are indeed making significant efforts to restore food supplies to the global market. I am grateful to the UN and Turkey for their respective efforts,” he said Wednesday evening in a traditional video message.
“The success of this story is needed not only by our state, but, without exaggeration, by the whole world. If the Russian threat to shipping in the Black Sea is removed, this will alleviate the severity of the global food crisis,” Zelensky said.
“The Ukrainian delegation reported to me that there is some progress. In the coming days, we will discuss the details with the UN Secretary General,” he said in conclusion.
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay announced plans to hold a trilateral Turkey-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan summit.
“Noting that (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan invited Turkmen leader Serdar Berdimuhamedov to Turkey, Oktay said that a trilateral Turkey-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan summit would be held after the visit,” Turkish TV channel TRT Haber reported.
Turkey plans to lease land from other countries for crop production, which will help the country overcome the food crisis caused by Russian aggression against Ukraine and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Turkey is considering leasing agricultural land in 10 countries, including Ukraine, Latin America and Africa, Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Vahit Kirişci told Türkiye.
“Part of the negotiations with 10 countries, including Ukraine and some countries of Latin America and Africa, ended with an agreement, and contacts with some of them continue. Agricultural products that cannot be produced in Turkey for climatic reasons will be grown on the leased lands or the production of which is insufficient,” the publication said.
It is specified that Turkish private business will also be involved in projects on leased lands. For example, in Sudan, Turkey will grow pineapples, mangoes, avocados, rapeseed, sunflowers, corn, cotton, sesame, sugarcane and alfalfa, the production of which is insufficient in Turkey.
Türkiye specifies that the leased areas will focus on the cultivation of plants that can be used in the production of animal feed. In addition, it is planned to establish the production of wheat there, which will be processed in Turkey and then exported in the form of biscuits, pasta and bulgur.
“We want to bring modern agriculture there. We want to produce in untouched agricultural areas. There are very serious untouched areas, especially in southern Africa. We are able to grow plants in these regions,” the Turkish minister was quoted as saying.
Ankara is awaiting a response from Moscow on organizing a possible meeting between Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the UN to discuss the issue of exporting grain from Ukraine, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday.
“Our position was stated very clearly. We are awaiting a response from the Russian side, both on the issue of holding the meeting and other details,” the Anadolu agency quotes him as saying.
“We stressed the Turkish side’s readiness to organize a quadripartite meeting in the UN-Turkey-Ukraine-Russia format. This is ultimately a UN initiative,” the minister said.
Cavusoglu said that during talks this week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, he explained that the UN plan to transport grain from Ukraine by sea is the best.
Earlier this week, the Turkish Foreign Minister said that Ankara considers the UN plan to export grain from Ukraine feasible. He noted that discussions are underway on the creation of a “grain corridor” mechanism in the Black Sea with the participation of the UN, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.
Turkey does not leave attempts to resume the dialogue between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, and also expresses its readiness to provide platforms for these negotiations, Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasily Bodnar said.
“Now Turkey does not leave attempts to resume this dialogue, they express their readiness to provide platforms for these negotiations. Today’s meeting (of the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Russia – IF) was also aimed at finding common ground for continuing these negotiations. What was publicly stated says that they are more focused on the communication of the parties, that there is a readiness for a possible resumption, and for their part they declare their readiness to contribute to this,” Bodnar said at a briefing at the Ukraine media center on Wednesday.
He added that “so far there is no talk of any specific steps towards this, since it should be clear what conditions which side is expressing.”
“Our immediate condition is the withdrawal of Russian troops. Then the negotiations may have a chance of success and end with the signing of a certain document. Otherwise, the so-called theory of “peace in exchange for territories” does not work for us. And the Turkish side understands this very well, at least trying to find out now the position of the Russian side and help in the resumption of this dialogue,” Bodnar said.
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