Cairo – AFP
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reassured the Egyptians on Sunday in Cairo, the first destination of his African tour, about their concerns related to the food crisis.
Lavrov said in a press conference after his talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, after he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi: “We confirmed the Russian grain exporters’ adherence to fulfilling all their obligations.” “President Vladimir Putin also confirmed this during a recent phone conversation with Egyptian President Sisi,” said Lavrov, who is on his way to Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda after Cairo.
The meeting between Sisi and Lavrov, according to a statement by the Egyptian presidency, dealt with “some bilateral issues…in various fields, especially cooperation in the fields of grain and food supply, as well as the oil and gas sector in light of the current crisis in those sectors.”
During the meeting, Sisi affirmed Egypt’s support for all endeavors that would speed up the political settlement of the (Russian-Ukrainian) crisis in order to maintain international security and stability.
On Friday, Ukraine and Russia signed in Istanbul an agreement with Turkey and the United Nations on the export of Ukrainian grain stuck in the ports of the Black Sea, in the face of the risks of famine threatening a large number of countries in the world.
The most prominent provision of the agreement is the establishment of “safe corridors” that would allow commercial ships to cross in the Black Sea, and Moscow and Kiev pledged not to “attack them”, according to a UN official. The agreement will be valid for a period of 120 days, i.e. four months, which is the period required to remove about 25 million tons of grain accumulated in Ukrainian silos, while the date of a new harvest is approaching.
Russia also obtained guarantees that Western sanctions would not be applied, directly or indirectly, to its exports of agricultural products and fertilizers.
In this regard, Lavrov commented that “the Secretary-General of the United Nations has taken upon himself the responsibility to lift these illegal restrictions imposed by the United States and the European Union on Russian logistical and financial chains.”