ISTANBUL, July 16. /TASS/. Turkey’s authorities hope that the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which expires on July 17, will ultimately be extended, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said on Sunday.

"We continue efforts to extend the agreement. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s planned visit to Turkey can be considered in this favor. I hope there will be positive results," he said in an interview with the A-Haber television channel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier that Putin may visit Ankara in August.

"I would like to say that everybody values President Tayyip Erdogan’s efforts [toward Istanbul agreements]. They have influenced not only the two countries but the entire world. Should we fail to do this, food prices in the world would have been absolutely different now. Our president has done a lot not only in terms of economics but he has also carried out a serious humanitarian mission by advancing this initiative and persuading both sides [to sign the agreement]," Yilmaz stressed.

A package of documents geared to resolve the problem of food and fertilizer supplies on global markets was signed on July 22, 2022 in Istanbul for a term of 120 days and was extended several times. One of the agreements regulated grain exports from the Kiev-controlled ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny. An agreement between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations provided for the establishment of a four-side coordination center to search ships carrying grain to prevent weapons smuggling and avoid provocations. Along with that, Russia and the United Nations signed a memorandum envisaging that the UN will take steps to lift various restrictions on exports of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers on global market. Russia’s authorities have repeatedly stressed that several provisions of the deal, including an agreement on grain supplies to the poorest countries, were not implemented. They have also pointed out that obstacle were being put for Russian food and fertilizer exports to the global market.