UN Secretary-General António Guterres is on his way to Ukraine on an official visit to discuss the Istanbul “grain” deal, the UN press service said.
“The secretary general has just arrived in Poland on his way to Ukraine. On Wednesday morning he will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenski in Kiev to discuss the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in all its aspects, as well as other topical issues,” the report states.
It is noted that this is the third visit of the Secretary General to Ukraine in the last year.
As reported, the “grain” deal was concluded in Istanbul on July 22, 2022. With the participation of the UN, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine signed two documents, one on creating a corridor for the export of grain from three Ukrainian ports (Chornomorsk, Odessa and Pivdenniy), and the other on removing barriers to the export of Russian food and fertilizers.
The deal is set to expire on March 18. The UN Secretary General previously expressed hope that it would be extended.
A critical step towards ensuring the safe and reliable export of Ukrainian food products through the Black Sea was made on Wednesday in Istanbul at four-party talks involving Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN, UN Secretary General Antonio Guteres said.
“Today, an important and meaningful step has been taken towards a comprehensive agreement. Now more technical work will be required to materialize today’s progress,” he said at a briefing at the UN.
Guteres stressed that the goal of all parties is not just an agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, but an agreement for the whole world.
The report of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on the results of 2021 clearly indicates the approach of a climate catastrophe, said UN Secretary General António Guterres.
“The global energy system has been disrupted and this is bringing us closer to a climate catastrophe,” Guterres said on Wednesday, commenting on the document.
“Rising sea levels, rising ocean temperatures, concentrations of greenhouse gases, increasing acidity in the oceans have set new alarming records in 2021,” the UN Secretary General added.
In turn, the Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization, Petteri Taalas, warned that these processes will continue until there are means to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
The UN Secretary General proposed a number of measures to accelerate the energy transition, recalling the availability of renewable sources such as wind and solar energy. In addition, he recalled the need to expand the supply of components for renewable energy technologies.
Guterres urged states to speed up and simplify the process of approving solar and wind energy projects, modernize electricity grids, end fossil fuel subsidies and triple investment in renewable energy. “The time has come to accelerate the transition to renewable energy before it’s too late,” the UN Secretary General said.
The situation in Ukraine “has devastated food supplies, disrupted the energy and financial systems of developing countries,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said.
“In fact, there is no real solution to the problem of global food security, unless the agricultural producer Ukraine, as well as food and fertilizer producers Russia and Belarus, are returned to the world market,” Western media quote the words of the UN Secretary General during his trip to Nigeria.
Guterres added that he was determined to promote dialogue on this issue.
UN Secretary General António Guterres visited Borodianka and said that war cannot be acceptable in the 21st century.
“I represent my family in one of these houses, now destroyed and black. I see my granddaughters run away in panic. In the 21st century, war cannot be acceptable,” Guterres said during a visit to Borodyanka on Thursday, according to the UN Office. for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ukraine on Twitter on Thursday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had proposed that a UN-Russia-Ukraine contact group be set up to address humanitarian matters in Ukraine.
There is need for safe and effective humanitarian corridors to be honored by everyone and to ensure the evacuation of civilians and the delivery of aid, Guterres said at a press conference, following negotiations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Guterres said he had therefore proposed the establishment of a UN-Russia-Ukraine humanitarian contact group to search for opportunities and to open safe corridors the efficiency of which would be ensured by local ceasefires.
CONTACT GROUP, HUMANITARIAN MATTERS, UN SECRETARY-GENERAL, UN-RUSSIA-UKRAINE
