PBB: No Russian Offers On Free Grains Yet

JAKARTA - The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said there had been no offer from Russia to provide free grains to the organization since Moscow's resignation from the Black Sea food export deal.

"We have not been spoken to," WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York as reported by ANTARA, Saturday, July 29.

Earlier on Thursday (27/7), Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Moscow would supply free grains to six African countries in the next three to four months.

Under the Black Sea Initiative, the WFP has shipped more than 725,000 tons of seeds to reduce hunger in some of the world's poorest regions, including Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and Yemen.

"Of course, the end of the Black Sea Initiative deal is regrettable," said Skau.

This is a matter of how we can ensure the food needs of millions of people are met. The world needs unobstructed access to the main food supply... Those who are hungry cannot wait for talks or diplomatic efforts," he added.

WFP got 50 percent of last year's purchase of grain from Ukraine and 80 percent of the purchase of wheat in 2023.

"We have to look elsewhere, which could be more expensive," he said.

WFP said food needs are very urgent considering that there are still 345 million people in the world experiencing food insecurity.

The Black Sea seed deal, signed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the United Nations, aims to safely continue exports from three Ukrainian ports since the Russian war began in February 2022.

The agreement could help control world food prices and ease the global food crisis by restoring the flow of wheat exports, solar flower oil, fertilizers, and other products from Ukraine, one of the largest exporters of grains in the world.

However, Moscow declined to extend the agreement after July 17, saying that some parts related to Moscow's request for an agreement had not been fulfilled.

Moscow has requested that various obstacles to Russia's fertilizer exports be removed and their agricultural banks restored to the SWIFT global financial transaction system.