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Russia will be able to send over 200,000 tons of fertilizers to Africa — top senator

Valentina Matviyenko stressed that the first cargoes of mineral fertilizers have already been sent to African countries

MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/. Russia will be able to send over 200,000 tons of mineral fertilizers to Africa as humanitarian aid, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Wednesday. The Federation Council is the upper house of the Russian parliament. Matviyenko was speaking at a meeting with the wife of the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Auxillia Mnangagwa.

"Russia has been seeking it for a long time, and finally, a decision has been made to lift sanctions and allow Russia to send more than 200,000 tons of mineral fertilizers as humanitarian aid to African countries to maintain food security, to help those people who need such support," Matvienko said.

She added that the first cargoes of mineral fertilizers have already been sent to African countries.

"We are very worried when we hear that there are children who do not receive enough food, families who suffer from this. Russia has always helped African countries and will always support them," Matvienko stressed.

Earlier it was reported that on November 12 the Uralchem-Uralkali company agreed to export to Africa humanitarian consignments of fertilizers blocked in warehouses in Belgium, the Netherlands and Estonia. The first vessel for export was chartered by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). At the end of November, the first ship with 20,000 tons of Russian fertilizers left the port of the Netherlands for Africa.

Agreements on food exports from Ukraine were concluded on July 22 in Istanbul for 120 days. One of the agreements was initially valid until November 19 and regulated the procedure for the export of grain from the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny controlled by Kiev. The agreements were extended on November 17 for another 120 days. The Russian Foreign Ministry explained that the deal was extended automatically due to the absence of objections from the parties involved in it (Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the UN). In Istanbul, Russia and the UN signed a memorandum, which implies the obligations of the world organization to remove various restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets.

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