NEW DELHI, September 10. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday he offered Russia to increase processing of Russian grain for the poorest countries.

"On the summit’s sidelines, we discussed with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the initiative to deliver one million tons of grain from Russia to Turkey for its milling into flour and dispatching to poor African countries. I suggested that we don’t stop on these volumes and increase them to satisfy the needs of the poorest countries," he told a news conference after the Group of Twenty summit in New Delhi.

The Turkish leader noted that out of the 33 million tons of grain exported under the deal "the West received 44%, fourteen percent were supplied to Turkey and only 14% went to African countries."

"Russian President Vladimir Putin points to the fact that the West has failed to keep its word giver to Russia [in the context of the deal]. He proposed to send to us an extra of one million tons of grain for processing. Both Qatar and we think that this project is useful and are ready to take part in it," Erdogan noted.

According to the Turkish president, Ankara will continue "work on this matter with the use of telephone diplomacy." "The foreign ministry will be in charge of this. We will continue taking steps toward African countries as part of measures to fight against poverty," he added.

Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov of Russia and Hakan Fidan of Turkey met in Moscow on August 31 to discuss the grain deal and parameters of the implementation of the initiative o organize supplies of one million tons of Russian grain to Turkey at a reduced price under Qatar’s financial assurance for further processing in Turkey and shipping to the poorest countries. This topic was discussed by Putin and Erdogan in Sochi on September 4.

The sides noted that this project is not a substitute for the grain deal. It is geared to prevent critical problems with food in the poorest countries. Turkey expressed support for this initiative.

On July 17, Russia refused to continue its participation in the grain deal, which was reached a year ago to ensure safe exports of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea. The deal also provided for creating conditions for exporting farming products and fertilizers from Russia. Moscow explained its withdrawal from the deal by the non-implementation of the part of the deal related to Russian exports to the global market.

Apart from that, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly pointed to the fact that most of the grain from Ukraine had been shipped to European countries whereas under the deal, it was to go to the poorest countries. Nevertheless, Moscow said that it was ready to resume its participation in the deal only when all obligations concerning Russia were implemented.