“Russia must allow the safe and secure export of grain stored in Ukrainian ports,” Guterres said, at a ministerial meeting in New York organized by the United States.
He added that it is also possible to “explore alternative transportation methods to the sea lane for exporting these grains, which are stored especially in granaries in the coastal city of Odessa on the Black Sea, even if we know that this will not be enough to solve the problem.”
On the other hand, the Secretary-General of the United Nations stressed that “Russian food and fertilizers must be allowed full and unrestricted access to world markets.”
Russian fertilizers are not subject to the sanctions imposed by the West on Moscow since the Russian military operation began on February 24, but the financial sanctions imposed against the Russian financial system could prevent third countries from buying these fertilizers, according to diplomats.
Guterres has been negotiating these two issues for several weeks, with Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union, in addition to Turkey, which can help remove mines placed near Ukrainian ports and ensure the safety of ship movement.
And the Secretary-General added: “I am optimistic, but we still have a long way to go. The complex security, economic and financial repercussions require goodwill from all parties,” he said, refusing to reveal more details so as not to reduce the chances of reaching an agreement.
Guterres also warned that “there is no effective solution to the food crisis if, despite the war, Ukraine’s food production, as well as foodstuffs and fertilizers produced by Russia and Belarus, is not returned to world markets.”
global famine
In a related context, the Secretary-General sounded the alarm, considering that “the specter of global food shortage looms in the coming months,” stressing that “if we do not feed people, we are fueling conflicts.”
He said that the war in Ukraine doubled the factors that contributed to the global food crisis and accelerated its pace, noting that these factors are climate change, the “Covid-19” pandemic, and the widening gap between rich and poor countries.
The Secretary-General warned that the current crisis “could last for years and threaten to push tens of millions of people into food insecurity, malnutrition and starvation.”
He pointed out that “in just two years, the number of people suffering from acute food insecurity has doubled, from 135 million, before the start of the pandemic, to 276 million today.”