Blinken: Grain initiative should be extended and expanded for food security
“Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine continues to harm not only Ukrainians but people across this region. It is essential that we extend and expand the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which Russia is threatening to end once again on July 18,” the U.S. Secretary of State said in Jakarta where he is participating in ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
He stressed that if Moscow followed through on its threat, developing countries would pay the price. They will feel even greater food scarcity and higher food prices.
“As we work to extend the initiative, we also stand ready to support a just and lasting peace to the conflict based on the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence – principles that are at the heart of the United Nations Charter and ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation,” Blinken noted.
The U.S. Secretary of State added that he had discussed this issue with China’s top diplomat in Jakarta. The United States is prepared to work with Beijing on challenges that affect people in the United States, the PRC, and around the world, Blinken stressed.
As reported, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Director of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Office Wang Yi held a meeting for the second time in a month, talking in the margins of the ASEAN Summit in the capital of Indonesia.
