UNITED NATIONS – The United States supports efforts by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to get Ukrainian grain back into the international marketplace amid the war, the US ambassador to the United Nations said.
“He has spoken to us about his plans and his discussions with the Ukrainians and the Russians on this issue,” Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters without giving further details.
After visiting Moscow and Kyiv late last month, Guterres said he was determined to help bring back to world markets the agriculture production of Ukraine and the food and fertilizer production of Russia and Belarus despite the war.
Guterres said the problem of global food security could not be solved without restoring Ukrainian agricultural production and Russian food and fertilizer output to the world market.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has added to volatility in financial markets, sending commodity prices higher and affecting logistics, potentially derailing the economic recovery from COVID-19 in many countries including Nigeria.
“Our analysis indicates that the war in Ukraine is only making things worse, setting in motion a three-dimensional crisis that is devastating global food, energy and financial systems for developing countries,” Guterres told reporters during a maiden visit to Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
“There is really no true solution to the problem of global food security without bringing back the agriculture production of Ukraine and the food and fertilizer production of Russia and Belarus into world markets despite the war,” he said.
Guterres said he was determined to facilitate dialogue to help achieve those goals.
He said the United Nations had called for an extra $351 million as part of the overall $1.1 billion for the humanitarian response plan for Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari said the continent was concerned that the attention on Russia and Ukraine could crowd out other issues.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Guterres has asked Russia to allow the shipment of some Ukrainian grain in return for moves to help facilitate Russian and Belarusian exports of potash fertilizer.
Guterres’ spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, declined to comment. Russia’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine – which it calls a “special military operation” – has sent global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer soaring, with Guterres warning it will worsen a food crisis in poor countries.
Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies. Ukraine is also a major exporter of corn, barley, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil, while Russia and Belarus – which has backed Moscow in its war in Ukraine – account for more than 40 percent of global exports of crop nutrient potash.
The conflict has also disrupted shipping in the Black Sea, throttling exports from Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine has been forced to now export by train or its small Danube River ports.
Its grain exports have more than halved so far in May from the same period a year ago, agriculture ministry data shows.
Thomas-Greenfield noted that there were no US sanctions on Russian agricultural products.
Washington did blacklist the exporting arm of Belarusian state potash producer in December to punish President Alexander Lukashenko for alleged election rigging and cracking down on the opposition.
UN food chief David Beasley warned the UN Security Council in March that the World Food Programme bought 50 percent of its grain from Ukraine and the war was threatening WFP’s ability to feed some 125 million people globally.
Guterres has also said 36 countries count on Russia and Ukraine for more than half of their wheat imports, including some of the poorest and most vulnerable in the world, including Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo. – Reuters
