UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2023) The fact that ammonia products are located at European ports and cannot be shipped out is very bad but the situation is extremely complex, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday.
"There have not been any more ships, which is too bad because there is ammonia sitting in a number of European ports that could be moving," Dujarric told a briefing.
The situation reminds of a complexity of a Rubik's Cube, he added. The UN has "no way dictating where the contracts go," he added.
Dujarric also said that the Secretary-General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan will travel to Moscow later this week to advocate for facilitation of unimpeded exports of Russian grain, fertilizers and ammonia.
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said earlier on Monday in a press conference in Pretoria, South Africa, that the UN's efforts have not helped to remove the barriers by the European Union and the United States on exports of Russian products and fertilizers.
On Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the UN made no effort to resolve the issue with the resumption of ammonia transit via the Tolyatti-Odessa pipeline.
In July 2022, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations struck a deal to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that most of the ships carrying Ukrainian grain did not make it to the world's poorest countries and ended up in Europe. At the same time, Putin has voiced his concerns that Russian products are not entering the global markets as promised by the agreement.
Since then, the grain deal, originally scheduled to expire on November 19, has been renewed for another 120 days.
