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Erdogan’s Spokesman says chances exist for grain deal to be prolonged

Ibrahim Kalin noted that "necessary efforts are being made in this direction"

ISTANBUL, May 8. /TASS/. There are chances for the grain deal, which expires on May 18, to be prolonged, Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told Haberturk Sunday.

"I hope for the extension of the grain deal, there are chances for that. Necessary efforts are being made in this direction," he said.

Agreements on the export of food and fertilizers from Ukraine to the international market were concluded on July 22, 2022, for 120 days and extended in November for the same period. One of the agreements regulates the order of grain supplies from the Kiev-controlled ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. Moreover, a memorandum was inked by Russia and the UN on lifting export restrictions for Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to global markets. Moscow notes that the second part of the agreement is not being implemented. On March 18, Russia announced that the deal was being extended for 60 days, warning that this would be enough time to assess the efficacy of the memorandum signed with the UN.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also noted that the future decision on the deal’s extension would depend on connection of Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) back to SWIFT, resumption of supplies of agriculture equipment, components and service maintenance, lifting of restrictions on insurance and reinsurance, lifting of the ban on access to ports, resumption of the work of Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, unfreezing of foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies related to production and transportation of food and fertilizers

On Saturday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said that Moscow remains dissatisfied with the progress on the issue of Russian agricultural export.

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