Ukraine will offer to extend the "grain agreement" for at least a year

The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Yurii Vaskov emphasized that Ukraine plans to discuss with Turkey and the UN the issue of extending the grain agreement for at least one year, including Mykolayiv ports.

"This week we will send an official proposal on the need to work on the extension of the agreement. We will ask to extend it not for 120 days, but at least for a year, because the Ukrainian and global agricultural market should be able to plan these volumes in the long term," the government official was quoted as saying by the media.

In addition, Yuriy Vaskov added that Mykolaiv ports, which accounted for 35% of Ukrainian food exports before the Russian invasion, are ready to join the initiative. Businesses need two weeks to start work.

Also, Ukraine will insist on increasing the number of inspection groups in order to eliminate the accumulation of vessels awaiting inspection. After all, due to the actions of Russia, a queue of more than 150 vessels formed in the inspection zone in the Bosphorus. The vast majority wait several weeks for the inspection.

By blocking Ukrainian ports, Russia violates international shipping conventions, so Ukraine calls on the international community to intervene and restore free access of Ukrainian ships to the sea. Yuriy Vaskov emphasized this on the air of the Aljazeera TV channel.

"We state that due to the Russian invasion, Ukraine has lost access to its ports and cannot export its products by sea. This is a gross violation of the International Convention on International Maritime Navigation, and we appeal to the International Maritime Organization of the United Nations with the demand to restore free navigation of Ukraine in the Black Sea," the government official emphasized.

We will remind that since August 1, 2022, Ukraine exported 22.1 million tons of Ukrainian food through the ports of "Great Odesa". Due to the slowdown in the work of the "grain corridor", the world does not receive at least 3 million tons every month.