RT.com
25 Sep 2023, 04:14 GMT+10
Most bloc members are not eager to purchase Kiev's produce despite its abundance, Russia's foreign minister says
The European Commission should buy the Ukrainian agricultural produce that the bloc says it doesn't need and ship it to African countries, Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has said at the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Western allies have repeatedly accused Moscow of trapping millions of tons of grain in Ukrainian Black Sea ports and of exacerbating a global food crisis, particularly across the African continent.
"Since the European Commission is wasting tens of billions of dollars on Ukraine... it can buy the grain that Ukraine wants to sell and EU countries don't want [to buy] for reasons of competitiveness, and send it to Africa," Lavrov told the UNGA.
According to Russia's top diplomat, Ukrainian agricultural produce is "being supplied to European countries in abundance" but many of them don't want to buy it, because "they have their own farmers and don't want them to go bust due to competition."
He also questioned the integrity of last year's grain deal, pointing out during his speech at the UN that only 3% of the grain that was moved under this deal had reached the poorest countries in Africa.
In addition, Lavrov said that some 260,000 metric tons of Russian fertilizers have been impounded in EU ports since 2022 and that Moscow was ready to ship these fertilizers to African nations for free.
Russian fertilisers became the crucial point in talks over resuming the Black Sea Grain Deal that was clinched last year between Russia and Ukraine and brokered by the UN and Türkiye. The deal was aimed at allowing Ukraine to export grain from its ports to countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, in exchange for lifting Western sanctions that prevented Russian agricultural exports.
However, Moscow withdrew from the agreement in July, saying that the West was still making it impossible for Russia to ship food and fertilizer.
Lavrov said that the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Vershinin, is currently discussing the key issues related to the deal with UN representatives. He stressed also that Western states would be misleading UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres by saying that the grain deal was about to resume.
According to the minister, the deal can resume once Russia's demands regarding its agricultural exports are fulfilled.
For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
(RT.com)
Get a daily dose of Cleveland Star news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Cleveland Star.
More InformationWASHINGTON D.C.: As businesses built more warehouses and accumulated machinery equipment, the U.S. economy grew faster than initially forecast in ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: This week, the White House said that Senior Biden administration officials met with the makers of respiratory syncytial ...
CHEYENNE, Wyoming: This week, the Biden administration raised US$3.4 million from a sale of oil and gas drilling rights in ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks extended their rally on Friday despite remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell ...
MOSCOW, Russia: Russia's trade in oil with India, one of the most lucrative oil trade routes since the imposition of ...
LONDON - Health experts and tobacco campaigners have strongly criticized New Zealand's decision to repeal laws that aimed to ban ...
COLUMBUS, Ohio: To stop the spread of bird flu, more than 1.3 million chickens will be killed on Ohio's Union ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: On November 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalled three more brands of whole and pre-cut ...
(Photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports) Paul George drained a go-ahead 3-pointer with 9.9 seconds remaining as the host ...
washington - Henry Kissinger will be remembered in much of the world as a foreign policy genius who ushered China ...
(Photo credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports) Ryan Hollingshead scored his third goal of the playoffs just before halftime to help ...
Sau Paulo [Brazil], December 3 (ANI): Makers of the sci-fi series 'Star Trek: Discovery' have released a preview of the ...