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Chinese Foreign Ministry extends hope for parties to grain deal to ensure food security

"China expects that the parties involved will be able to duly tackle international food security through dialogue and consultations," Mao Ning said

BEIJING, July 18. /TASS/. China’s Foreign Ministry is hopeful the parties to the grain deal will duly address the issue of international food security.

"China expects that the parties involved will be able to duly tackle international food security through dialogue and consultations," Spokesperson Mao Ning said, when asked by a TASS reporter to comment on Moscow’s decision to suspend the grain initiative.

China is ready to bolster cooperation with all parties to the grain deal toward reaching a broader international consensus and making a contribution to global food security.

The pact was suspended on Monday. Russia, which had repeatedly extended the Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement initially concluded last July to ensure the passage of vessels carrying Ukrainian grain through corridors in the Black Sea, lamented that provisions of the deal allowing for unhindered exports of Russian agricultural products had never been implemented. Moscow argued that, although the agreement was designed to send foodstuffs to the poorest countries, the bulk of Ukrainian grain had landed in the West’s developed countries. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia could resume its participation in the deal when the provisions regarding Moscow are implemented.