ANKARA, September 7. /TASS/. Turkish companies are ready to participate in supply of 1 mln tons of grain from Russia to Africa’s poorest countries, a source in the political circles in Ankara told TASS.
"Yes, the issue is being worked out. Turkish companies have expressed readiness to actively participate in the initiative, to which Qatar will provide financial assistance," the source said.
Meanwhile, a source in a local grain union told TASS earlier that Turkey had sufficient capacities for processing 1 mln tons of grain from Russia into flour and delivering it further on to Africa.
On August 31, talks were held in Moscow between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan who discussed the grain deal and parameters of putting into practice a plan to arrange deliveries of 1 million tons of Russian grain at a discount to Turkey. The initiative suggests that Qatar would finance the processing of grain at Turkish plants for subsequent shipments to the countries in need. On September 4, the issue was discussed by Russian and Turkish presidents, Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan, at a meeting in Sochi.