The meeting between Russians and Ukrainians, in the presence of United Nations representatives, on the controversial issue of grain exports across the Black Sea kicks off this Wednesday in Turkey.
Military experts from Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey are meeting Wednesday in Istanbul to try to unblock the export of Ukrainian grain held up in Black Sea ports because of the war and avert a global food crisis.
The meeting, attended by United Nations representatives, will take place behind closed doors at an unspecified location in Turkey’s capital, the Turkish Defense Ministry told the French news agency AFP.
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A statement is expected at the end of the meeting, whose time has also not been disclosed. More than 20 million tons of grain and sunflower seeds are blocked at Ukrainian Black Sea ports following the war started by Russia on February 24.
Together, according to the British magazine The Economist, Ukraine and Russia supply 28 percent of the wheat consumed in the world, 29 percent of barley, 15 percent of corn, and 75 percent of sunflower oil. The global shortage of these products is compounded by a shortage of fertilizer, which Russia has stopped exporting since the start of the war.
