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UN under secretary general says he’s unaware if grain deal will exist beyond July 17

The Black Sea Initiative and the memorandum of understanding between the UN and the Russian Federation is incredibly important for global food security, Martin Griffiths said

UNITED NATIONS, July 8. /TASS/. UN Under Secretary General Martin Griffiths on Friday said he’s unaware whether the Black Sea grain deal will be extended beyond July 17.

"I don't really know what's in the minds of the parties who will decide on renewal or termination in the middle of July," he said.

"We have repeated statements from the Russian Federation saying that there's been no advantage to them and it's time's up. Well, of course, as the secretary general has made clear, this doesn't deter us from doing everything we can to work for renewal," the UN official went on to say.

"The world has seen the value of the Black Sea Initiative," Griffiths said "The Black Sea Initiative and the memorandum of understanding between the UN and the Russian Federation is incredibly important for global food security."

It’s not just the UN that touts the importance of the agreements, but also the African leaders that recently went to see Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the same message will probably come out at the upcoming Russia-Africa summit, he said.

The UN official said there is some progress with the Russian segment of the agreements.

Agreements to export food and fertilizers were signed on July 22, 2022 in Istanbul. They were originally meant to last 120 days and were extended for another 120 days in November. Russia announced on May 18 that the deal was extended for another 60 days, warning that this would be ample time to evaluate the execution of the memorandum that had been signed with the UN. On June 30, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he did not see any reasons in favor of extending the agreements.

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