Next Week UN Secretary General Discusses Black Sea Grains Agreement with Presidents Erdogan, Zelensky and Lavrov

Left-right: Secretary General of the United Nations Guterres, Foreign Minister Lavrov, President Erdogan, President Zelensky. (Wikimedia Commons/evan Scheider, ukhlmann MSC, kremlin, president.gov.ua/Kolase VOI)

JAKARTA - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will discuss renewing the grain agreement with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky next week, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

"Next week, I will accept President Zelensky, I will accept President Erdogan, I will accept Minister Lavrov, and of course, this issue will be a topic of our discussion," said the UN Secretary General as reported by TASS September 14.

Secretary-General Guterres said he would have separate contact with representatives of the Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish Federations and had no plans to gather them together.

"I remain determined to do everything possible to build the Black Sea initiative, export Ukrainian foodstuffs, and also to continue our work in connection with facilitation in the regime of sanctions against Russian food and fertilizer products," said Secretary General Guterres.

As previously reported, President Erdogan gave a good signal of the possibility of recovering the Black Sea seed deal, after meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Sochi last week.

This week, President Erdogan said any attempt to restore the deal that ignores Russia would fail.

Russia left the deal on July 17, after previously being extended several times, so that despite the war, shipments through the Black Sea could take place safely. Moscow said it was taken because the points related to Russia in the deal had not yet been realized.

Meanwhile, Ukraine, through Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, said it would not change its attitude regarding the deal, saying it wanted alternative routes related to the delivery of grains.