Russian Fertilizer Regulation by UN Secretary-General Guterres

Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar stated that 51 ships have docked since August 1. Akar said, "656 thousand 349 tons of grain was shipped." UN Secretary-General Guterres underlined that a similar cooperation should be organized for Russian fertilizer.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres thanked Turkey for its role in the grain agreement signed in Istanbul. "The other part of this package deal is unhindered access to global markets for Russian food and fertilizer, which are not subject to sanctions," Guterres said. "Without fertilizer in 2022, there may not be enough food in 2023," Guterres said, drawing the attention of all governments. "We are at the beginning of a much longer process, but you have already demonstrated the potential of this critical agreement for the world," Antonio Guterres said, underlining that getting more food and fertilizer out of Ukraine and Russia is crucial to further calm commodity markets and lower prices for consumers. In his assessment, Minister Akar stated that the risk of energy and food crisis has increased due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and emphasized that it has become a necessity to create a corridor at sea to safely transport more than 25 million tons of grain in Ukrainian ports to countries in need in a short time. Akar said, "There has been an intensive contact process through the special representatives appointed by the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Turkey, and the talks, which were initially bilateral, were later held as a quartet. As a result of the support and will shown by our President, Mr. Putin, Mr. Zelenskiy and Mr. Guterres, a Joint Coordination Center was established to carry out the activities. Working under the auspices of the United Nations and hosted by Turkey, this center has gradually increased the number of staff and currently has a total of 71 people, including 14 representatives from Turkey, 22 from Russia, 12 from Ukraine and 23 from the United Nations. Importantly, there is no military presence on the ground. The Joint Coordination Center carries out all its activities in close coordination with the parties and the UN. Since August 1, a total of 51 ships have sailed for grain shipments, 27 of which have departed from Ukrainian ports. 24 vessels have entered Ukrainian ports for grain shipments. So far, 656,349 tons of grain has been shipped from Ukrainian ports. We evaluate that this figure will increase gradually."