According to reports, Turkey is attempting to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine. The government in Kyiv wants Turkey to provide security guarantees to ships carrying the grain through the Black Sea.
Turkish President Erdogan said: “Negotiations are going ahead so that this grain, and sunflower oil, can reach the world.”
Mr Erdogan said he intends to “intensify” negotiations with Russia and Ukraine in the hope of reaching a deal on a UN plan to export Ukrainian grain to world markets.
President Erdogan made the comments during a joint news conference with Italian Premier Mario Draghi.
Turkey is working with the United Nations, Ukraine and Russia on a plan that would allow millions of tons of Ukrainian grain sitting in silos to be shipped through safe corridors in the Black Sea.
According to reports, Turkey is attempting to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine.
The government in Kyiv wants Turkey to provide security guarantees to ships carrying the grain through the Black Sea.
He told reporters: “We will intensify our talks within a week or 10 days and try to reach a result.”
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but Russia’s invasion halted most of that flow, endangering food supplies to many developing countries, especially in Africa.
The Ukrainian government has cited a Russian naval blockade of its ports, while Russia has claimed that Ukrainian sea mines prevent the safe movement of agricultural exports.
Draghi praised the possibility of an accord as important not just to getting grain and fertiliser to poor countries, but because it would represent the first agreement Ukraine and Russia had reached on anything during the war, which is now in its fifth month.
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Meanwhile, a Russian-flagged ship carrying thousands of tonnes of grain is being held and investigated by Turkish authorities in the Black Sea port of Karasu over claims its cargo was stolen from Ukraine.
Turkish customs officials acted after Kyiv claimed the Zhibek Zholy was illegally transporting 7,000 tonnes of grain out of Russian-occupied Berdyansk, a Ukrainian port in the south-east of the country.
