UN urges to extend grain deal at any cost

The grain deal must be extended at all costs, if this doesn’t happen, the world will be in danger, Director of the UN World Food Program David Beasley said in a video posted on the organization’s Twitter page, Report informs.

“The grain agreement is expiring and it must be extended at any cost,” he stressed, pointing to the serious shocks that the world has recently faced: the coronavirus pandemic, climate anomalies, political conflicts, earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria.

He noted that if the Istanbul agreements cannot be renewed, the planet will be overtaken by massive destabilization, migration and famine.

The director of the program said that the grain exported from Ukraine could be enough for 400 million people. In addition, as a result of the initiative, the food program was able to feed 36 million people, he noted.

Earlier it was reported that since the conclusion of the deal, more than 481,000 tons of wheat have been transported from Ukrainian ports.

The grain deal was concluded in July last year between Russia, Ukraine, Türkiye and the UN. It is aimed at fulfilling two tasks: facilitating the export of agricultural products from Ukraine and removing barriers to exports from the Russian Federation.

In November, the deal was extended for another 120 days, now it expires on March 18.