Grain supplies to the poorest countries should be increased – Vladimir Putin
Only 3% of grain shipped from Ukraine under UN food programmes is bound for the poorest countries
Grain supplies to the poorest countries should be increased, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a regular meeting with permanent members of the Security Council held on 9 September 2022. The meeting transcript is available on the Kremlin website.
In his opening speech, the President reminded that grain supplies are mediated by the Republic of Turkey, as well as the United Nations. “Our European partners have long been telling us about the need to resume supplies, including from Ukraine, and above all in the interests of the poorest countries,” said Vladimir Putin. According to him, of the 87 ships that left Ukrainian ports carrying grain, 32 remained in Turkey, three went to South Africa, three to Israel, seven to Egypt, 30 to the European Union, and only two ships headed for the poorest countries under UN food programmes – for Yemen and Djibouti. They carried 60,000 tonnes of grain, or a mere 3 percent.
“I would like to ask the Foreign Ministry to take this into account when interacting with our partners, including the UN. True, we cannot influence this process, cannot direct how much food goes where, but nevertheless, we consider it right to increase supplies to the poorest countries,” said the President.
In May-August of this year, the Russian Federation supplied 6.6 million tonnes of grain to world markets, including wheat, barley and corn, of which as much as 6.3 million tonnes went to Asia, Africa and Latin America. “Overall, by the end of the year, we will supply 30 million tonnes of grain and are ready to increase our exports to 50 million tonnes or more,” said Vladimir Putin adding that Russia also exported 7 million tonnes of potash, nitrogen and compound, or mixed fertilisers in four months, of which about 3 million tonnes, or almost half, also went to Asia, Africa and Latin America. “We can supply about 2 million tonnes of ammonia, which can be used to make large amounts of fertiliser, which in turn can be used to produce massive wheat crops,” he said.
However, there are technical issues here that are being looked into by the UN, among others, according to the President. “There are some technical issues, but we can get these deliveries on track,” he emphasized.
Vladimir Putin reminded that the European Commission had lifted the sanctions on the supplies of Russian fertilisers “but issued a clarification on this matter on August 10, whereby only EU countries can buy our fertilisers, but we and Belarus cannot ship our fertilisers through the ports of European countries to the developing economies of Asia, Africa or Latin America, which is an act of discrimination against our partners from these parts of the world. I want the Foreign Ministry to work with our partners and the UN, which joined the efforts to address these issues. I believe discrimination against Asian, African or Latin American countries is unacceptable. By all means, we will review our European partners’ proposals regarding fertiliser supplies to them, but we need to get our fertiliser supplies to other countries on track too. By the way, I want the Foreign Ministry to act in support of the Belarusian fertiliser supplies as well,” said Vladimir Putin adding that massive amounts of fertilisers are stored at the ports of some European countries. The President asked the Foreign Ministry to work through this issue as well.
