The Secretary General of the United Nations Organization (UN), António Guterres, said Thursday that he had sent a letter to the head of Russian diplomacy, Serguei Lavrov, with a set of proposals to restore the Black Sea Grain Agreement.
“We presented a set of concrete proposals in a letter that I sent to the Russian Foreign Minister, (…) which allow to create the conditions for the renewal of the Black Sea initiative. We believe that this initiative constitutes a “A very valuable contribution important to make food markets more in line with our food security goals,” Guterres told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.
According to the UN leader, “Russian requests” to resume the agreement were taken into account, so the proposal presented could “be the basis for a renewal, but a renewal that must be stable.”
“We cannot have a Black Sea initiative that goes from crisis to crisis, from suspension to suspension. We need to have something that works and that works for the benefit of all,” he stressed.
On July 17, Moscow suspended the agreement to export grain through the Black Sea from Ukrainian ports, initially signed in July 2022 with the mediation of Turkey and the UN.
On the occasion, Moscow assured that it did so due to the impossibility of exporting its cereals and fertilizers, the blocking of its bank payments and the freezing of its assets abroad.
Guterres, who since the start of the war in Ukraine has made the implementation and proper functioning of this agreement one of his main priorities, reinforced this Thursday that its renewal is of “extreme importance”, especially for its contribution to reducing prices of food on a global scale.
Although he did not go into details, the former Portuguese prime minister indicated that he had proposed some concrete solutions to Russian concerns regarding the export of its food and fertilizers to global markets.
“I believe that, working seriously, we can find a positive solution for everyone: for Ukraine, for the Russian Federation, but, more important than anything else, for the world, at a time when so many countries are facing enormous difficulties in matter of guaranteeing the food security of their populations”, defended the leader of the United Nations.
At the press conference, Guterres also took the opportunity to address the high-level week of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, which will take place in September in New York and where heads of state and government from dozens of of countries. with the war in Ukraine back in the spotlight.
Despite guaranteeing that he never loses hope, the secretary general stated that he would “lie” if he said that he believes in the possibility of peace in Ukraine on the immediate horizon.
“I don’t think we have reached that point yet. And that is why it is so important to take steps to reduce the dramatically negative impacts of this war on the world,” he said.
Hours earlier, also at a press conference, the United States ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, stated that the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, will be able to participate in person at the United Nations high-level week.
“I understand that Albania will host a meeting on Ukraine during the high-level week and we have heard that President Zelensky might be here. So yes, Ukraine will also be at the top of everyone’s agenda,” the US diplomat said. he told the press, after taking stock of his rotating presidency of the Security Council during August.
The opening of the 78th session of the General Assembly is scheduled for September 5 and its general debate will take place from the 19th of the same month.
During the high-level week, in addition to the general debate, events such as the Sustainable Development Goals summit, the Climate Ambition summit, a high-level dialogue on financing for development, among others, are also planned.
Last year, the United Nations high-level week took place just over six months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, so Zelensky opted not to leave his country and addressed the General Assembly debate of the UN through a pre-recorded video message.
Source: TSF
