ANKARA, September 20. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reiterated that he expects the flow of food supplies from Russia to pass through the grain corridor.
"Exports of agriculture products exceed 2 mln tonnes, approaching 3 mln tonnes. A new stage is about to start as supplies of products from Russia to the whole world will begin," he said in an interview with the US TV channel PBS on Monday. "Of course, my only wish is to ensure the delivery of products not to developed countries, but to poorly-developed or poor countries. If we manage to do that, poor countries and underdeveloped countries will get those products," the Turkish news agency Anadolu cited Erdogan as saying.
Ankara has actively stated its desire to facilitate the delivery of products from Russia since early September. According to Erdogan, the issue was discussed at his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Samarkand.
A package of documents aimed at resolving the issue of food and fertilizer supplies to global markets was signed in Istanbul on July 22. One of the documents created a mechanism to export grain from Ukraine-controlled Black Sea ports. The deal inked between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN provides for the establishment of a four-party coordination center whose representatives will inspect grain ships in order to prevent arms smuggling and false flag operations.
Speaking at a plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that almost all grain delivered from Ukraine was sent to EU countries instead of being transported to the world’s poorest nations, where just two vessels out of 87 were sent.