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Turkish president tells UN chief grain deal should be extended

The UN Secretary General thanked the President of Turkey for his efforts to restore the work of the grain corridor

ANKARA, November 4. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres by phone on Thursday that the Black Sea grain transportation agreement needs to be extended, his administration said in a Twitter post on Friday.

"President Erdogan said that now we need to once again concentrate on the issue of extending the Istanbul Agreement [on grain exports via the Black Sea]. The secretary-general thanked Erdogan for his efforts to put the grain corridor back into operation," the Turkish presidency said.

The Turkish leader added that he was "satisfied with the re-launch of the grain corridor that occurred as a result of his top-level diplomatic contacts with Russia and Ukraine."

Erdogan and Guterres also discussed the situation around Ukraine in general.

On October 29, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that Moscow was suspending implementation of the agreement on exports of agricultural produce from Ukrainian ports after Ukraine had carried out a terrorist attack against the Black Sea Fleet ships and the civilian vessels employed to ensure security of the grain corridor.

On November 2, Russia decided to resume participation in the grain deal after Ukraine, through the mediation of the UN and Turkey, guaranteed in writing that it would not use the security corridor in the Black Sea for military purposes, the Russian Defense Ministry said. However, Moscow stated that they reserve the right to withdraw from the agreement if Kiev violates the guarantees. However, Moscow still does not see any progress regarding the second part of the agreement, which concerns removing any obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers and grain.