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Turkey opposes putting time limits on grain deal, Erdogan says

"It would not be fair to put Africa aside and send it [food] to Europe," the Milliyet newspaper quoted Turkish President

ANKARA, November 12. /TASS/. Turkey thinks it would be wrong to set a time limit on the grain deal to export food and fertilizers from Ukraine and Russia, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters on a flight home from Uzbekistan.

"I think it would be wrong to put a time limit here (as part of the grain deal - TASS). On the other hand, in my opinion, we should draw the boundaries of this work well and do it well. In other words, as [Russian President Vladimir] Putin said, this step could be taken for African countries. It would not be fair to put Africa aside and send it [food] to Europe," the Milliyet newspaper quoted him as saying on Saturday.

On Friday in Geneva, a meeting was held between the UN delegation led by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths and Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan and the Russian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin. The UN earlier reported that the sides had discussed food and fertilizer exports from Russia. The international organization called for removing all remaining obstacles to these exports.

Agreements on food exports from Ukraine were concluded on July 22 for 120 days. They are effective until November 19 and will be renewed automatically if none of the sides (Russia, the UN, Ukraine, Turkey) is against it.