ISTANBUL, May 10. /TASS/. Security issues of the grain corridor operation are on the agenda of the high-level meeting of representatives of Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations, which will be held on May 10-11 in Istanbul, a local diplomatic source told TASS on Wednesday.
"Such options are on the table, given Ankara's active diplomacy and the reactivation of the grain corridor thanks to Turkey's initiatives," the source said. "Grain corridor security issues will be in the top on the talks’ agenda."
Agreements on the export of food from Ukraine were concluded on July 22, 2022, for 120 days and extended in November for the same period. One of the agreements regulates the order of grain supplies from the Kiev-controlled ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny.
Moreover, a memorandum was inked by Russia and the UN on lifting export restrictions for Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to global markets. Moscow notes that the second part of the agreement is not being implemented.
On March 18, Russia announced that the deal was being extended for 60 days, warning that this would be enough time to assess the efficacy of the memorandum signed with the United Nations.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also noted that the future decision on the deal’s extension would depend on connection of Rosselkhozbank back to SWIFT, resumption of supplies of agriculture equipment, components and service maintenance, lifting of restrictions on insurance and reinsurance, lifting of the ban on access to ports, resumption of the work of Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, unfreezing of foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies related to production and transportation of food and fertilizers.