Senegal President and African Union Chairman Macky Sall told Sputnik on Tuesday that he appreciated the United Nations-brokered grain deal, which brought markets back to normal
SHARM EL-SHEIKH (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th November, 2022) Senegal President and African Union Chairman Macky Sall told Sputnik on Tuesday that he appreciated the United Nations-brokered grain deal, which brought markets back to normal.
"We appreciate this grain deal very much, I recall that when I met with (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin last June (2022), it was first of all for that, among other things it was for the release of grain through the port of Odessa, but also for the access to Russian fertilizers," Sall told Sputnik.
The grain deal normalized the global market, the president said, urging the international community to agree on Russia's fertilizers exports.
"I think that the release of grain has brought the market back to normal; that is, when people know that grain is now available, the market returns to normal. The other aspect is that we must agree to the same conditions for fertilizers, because it is very important for Africa," Sall added.
Last week, Russia suspended its participation in the UN-mediated grain deal for several days after its ships were attacked by Ukraine in the Black Sea. Moscow returned to the deal after receiving guarantees from Kiev that it would refrain from using the grain corridor for military purposes, following mediation by Turkey and the UN.
After returning to the grain deal, the Kremlin said that Russia was still undecided about whether to extend it beyond the November 19 deadline. Moscow has repeatedly said the agreement was not effective in bringing grain and fertilizer to developing countries, while sanctions continue to hinder Russia's food exports, even though the deal was supposed to guarantee their free flow to global markets.
On October 29, Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said that Russia was ready to supply up to 500,000 tonnes of grain to struggling nations at no cost in the next four months and fully replace the Ukrainian grain exports, as well as organize grain deliveries to all concerned countries at reasonable prices. Patrushev noted that Russia had already harvested 150 million tonnes of grain this year, while its export potential is estimated at over 50 million tonnes.
