2023-05-22 10:30:08
Pair Nadia El Hachimi
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a set of two agreements sponsored by the United Nations and Turkey and concluded separately with Kyiv and Moscow in July 2022, was renewed last week following intense negotiations.
Although they made it possible to extend, on May 17, the agreement for an additional period of sixty days, the negotiations between the four signatories, namely Russia, Ukraine, the UN and Turkey, n have made no progress on several sticking points, which still remain relevant, according to Moscow.
Confirming the extension of the agreement until July 17, Russian diplomacy has, in fact, pointed to an “unbalanced” implementation as well as “the absence of concrete progress” concerning the memorandum concluded between Russia and the UN as part of the initiative.
Seen from Russia, the agreement was extended for another two months without any changes, “in response to calls, mainly from Turkish partners as a party to the agreement”. “Our basic assessments of the implementation of the Istanbul Accords remain the same – so far only the Black Sea Initiative is implemented. (…) There is no concrete progress on the Russia-UN memorandum”, affirmed the Russian diplomacy in a press release, published the day following the renewal of the initiative.
The other sticking point is “the declared humanitarian component of the agreement”, in the sense that “a good part of the grain exported through the maritime corridor goes mainly to high-income countries and above the mean “.
Read also: The Black Sea Grain Initiative renewed for two months
“Countries in need receive little: 722,000 tons (or 2.5%) of the total 30 million tons exported from Ukrainian ports in 9 months,” the ministry noted, noting that in parallel, the supply of Russian products, even fertilizer donations to the poorest countries, “continue to face the blocking of sanctions”.
The Russian side also noted a “lack of progress” regarding the resumption of ammonia deliveries, as provided for in the two Istanbul documents. “In particular, with regard to the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, to which the UN Secretary-General dedicated his visit to Kiev on March 8, as well as a separate initiative that remain, such as the Russia-UN memorandum , On paper “.
To these stumbling blocks are added five demands formulated last April by Russia and which, according to it, have not been carried out. These are the reconnection of the Russian bank specializing in agriculture Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT international banking system, the resumption of the supply of agricultural machinery, spare parts and maintenance service and the removal of obstacles in terms of ship insurance and access to foreign ports.
These requirements also relate to the resumption of operation of the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline and the unfreezing of the assets of Russian companies linked to the agricultural sector located abroad.
“If these conditions are not met, the extension of the Black Sea Initiative is in principle out of the question, and the agreement itself will be terminated following July 17,” according to Moscow.
Faced with these various challenges, the future of the Black Sea grain initiative still seems uncertain, as was the case before each extension of the agreement in November, March and May.
Will the grain initiative be extended beyond its first anniversary on July 22, 2023? The next two months should provide a window of opportunity for a new round of negotiations. The renewal, last Wednesday, of the cereal initiative in the Black Sea having reset the counters to zero.
With MAP
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