Ukraine, UN, Turkey agree to extend Black Sea Grain Initiative for 120 days

Ukraine, the United Nations and Turkey agreed at a meeting in Istanbul on November 17 to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative for a further 120 days.

Ukraine's Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said this in a post on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

"The Black Sea Grain Initiative has been extended for another 120 days. This decision has just been made in Istanbul. The United Nations and Turkey remained the guarantors of the implementation of the Initiative," he wrote.

Kubrakov added that Ukraine had exported more than 11 million tonnes of agricultural products to 38 countries since the initiative was launched on August 1. He noted that this is a significant amount, but not sufficient.

According to the minister, the world market cannot replace Ukrainian agricultural products in the near future. At the same time, Ukraine has the opportunity to increase the supply of its own food to the world.

Kubrakov said that Ukraine had officially proposed that its partners in the initiative extend the grain deal for at least one year and include the port of Mykolaiv in it, and it is currently waiting for a response. In addition, proposals were made to solve existing problems in the work of the Joint Coordination Center.