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Turkey hopes for resumption of grain deal in near future — top diplomat

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that he had discussed the situation around the grain deal with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov

ISTANBUL, July 21. /TASS/. Turkey hopes that the Black Sea Grain Initiative will be resumed as soon as possible, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday.

"On July 17, we received Russia’s notification about its withdrawal from the deal and were informed by Moscow about the reasons behind this decision. We are doing our best to extend the grain deal and believe that Russia’s return to the negotiating table would be expedient. Apart from that, the probability of decisions that would not threaten efforts toward overcoming the food crisis is quite high. We hope for the resumption of the grain deal in the near future," he said.

He said that he had discussed the situation around the grain deal with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. "We are sparing no effort to revive the agreement," he added.

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 and extended several times after that before ultimately expiring on July 17. Russia refused to extend it again because the part of the deal envisaging the removal of obstacles for Russian agricultural exports was never implemented. Apart from that, Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the bulk of grain that was meant to be supplied to the poorest counties was shipped to Western countries. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is ready to resurrect the deal but only after its part related to obligations to Moscow is fulfilled.

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