KIEV, November 17. /TASS/. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Alexander Kubrakov said on Thursday he believed that the deal guaranteeing the safe passage of ships carrying grain exports from Ukraine would be extended by 120 days.
"The Black Sea grain initiative will be prolonged for 120 days," he wrote on his Twitter.
He specified that the decision had been made in Istanbul. As Kubrakov said, "the United Nations Organization and Turkey remained the guarantors of the initiative’s implementation." He said that over the period of the grain deal, Ukraine exported over 11 million tons of agricultural output to 38 countries.
"We officially appealed to the partners with a proposal to extend the Initiative for 1 year and to include the Nikolayev port in it… We are waiting for [an] official announcement from the leaders of the United Nations and Turkiye," he added.
The agreements on Ukraine’s food exports were concluded for a term of 120 days on July 22. The deals are in effect until November 19 and are extended by 120 days unless either party (Russia, the UN, Ukraine or Turkey) rejects them.
One agreement regulates the procedure of exporting grain from the Kiev-held Black Sea ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN set up the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul to inspect vessels with grain to thwart arms smuggling and prevent provocations.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin earlier told reporters that the issue of extending the grain deal had not been decided on yet. Later, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Vershinin pointed out at a meeting with the head of the EU mission in Moscow that the terms of the grain deal must be fully complied with.