Black Sea Grain Agreement Recovered After President Putin And Erdogan's Meeting In Sochi

President Erdogan with President Putin in Sochi. (Source: Presidency of The Republic of Turkey)

JAKARTA - Good news comes from Sochi, where the Black Sea seed deal is likely to be restored following a meeting of Russian and Turkish leaders in Sochi on Monday, easing the global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian wheat to enter the market.

President Erdogan and the United Nations are trying to bring Moscow back to its position brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, allowing the export of grains safely through the Black Luat despite the war.

"As Turkey, we believe that we will reach a solution that meets expectations in a short time," President Erdogan said at the Sochi resort in the Black Sea after a first face-to-face meeting with President Putin since 2022.

President Erdogan said Russia's expectations were already known to everyone and that the shortage should be eliminated, adding that Turkey and the United Nations had prepared a new advisory package to ease Russia's concerns.

Meanwhile, President Putin said Russia could return to the wheat deal if the West fulfills a separate memorandum agreed with the United Nations, at the same time to facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports.

President Putin said Russia could return to the agreement, only if the West stopped limiting Russia's agricultural exports to reach the global market.

"We will be ready to consider the possibility of reviving the wheat deal and I have conveyed this to the President again today. We will do this as soon as all agreements regarding the lifting of export restrictions on Russian agricultural products are fully enforced," President Putin said.

On that occasion he also said Western claims that Russia was triggering a global food crisis due to the suspension of the deal, as false.

"There is no physical shortage of food," he said.

It is known that Russia left the agreement in July, a year after the agreement was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, because it assessed that the terms of the agreement related to Russia had not been realized.

Although Russian food and fertilizer exports were not subject to Western sanctions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Russia exported large quantities of wheat last year, Moscow and agricultural exporters said payment restrictions, logistics and insurance had hampered shipments.

"The West continues to block the supply of grains and fertilizers from the Russian Federation to the world market," President Putin said.

He said Russia estimates this year's wheat harvest will be estimated at 130 million tonnes this year, with 60 million tonnes of which exportable.