ANKARA, August 10. /TASS/. Turkey is expecting the Black Sea Initiative grain deal to resume after planned talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but should Moscow’s position on renewing the grain deal remain unchanged after the leaders meet, Ankara may suggest prioritizing an initiative for processing Russian grain in Turkey for further delivery to African countries, a local diplomatic source told TASS.
"The resumption of the grain deal will be one of the main issues at the planned talks between Erdogan and Putin. Turkey expects Russia to return to it, and is holding relevant talks with [Moscow, as well as] with other parties to the Istanbul agreements [of July 2022] and Western capitals, hopeful of success. If [a grain deal resumption] is not going to work out, however, Ankara will most likely offer the priority implementation of an initiative to process Russian grain into flour in Turkey for further delivery to needy African countries, which Erdogan and Putin spoke about earlier," the source said.
Speaking at a meeting with Turkish ambassadors on August 8, Erdogan noted that Ankara would continue making efforts to achieve a resumption of the grain deal, expressing hope that the talks with his Russian counterpart would move the ball forward on the grain export issue. The Turkish president added that the revival of the Black Sea Initiative largely depends on Western countries’ compliance with their obligations to Moscow under the deal.
Earlier, Erdogan announced Putin’s visit to Turkey, which is scheduled for late August. The date of the trip will be agreed upon via diplomatic channels, he said. Local media outlets suggest that the visit will take place on August 28-31.
The grain deal was terminated on July 17. Speaking at the Russia-Africa Summit, Putin said that Moscow had agreed to participate in the deal given, among other factors, the initial linked obligations for the Western parties to the deal to remove illegitimate obstacles to Russian exports of grain and fertilizers to world markets, but noted that not one of the relevant provisions was ever actually implemented.