By KYIV. Nov 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The initiative on the safe transportation of grain and foodstuffs by the Black Sea has been extended for another 120 days, the decision was made only in Istanbul, Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov has said.
"The UN and Turkey remain the guarantors of the implementation of the Initiative," he wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
Kubrakov said that Ukrainian agricultural export today remains an effective tool to counteract the global food crisis: from August 1, the start of the Grain Initiative and to this day, Ukraine has exported more than 11 million tonnes of foodstuffs to 38 countries of the world.
"The world market does not have the ability to replace Ukrainian foodstuffs in the near future. At the same time, it is possible to increase the volume of our food for the world," the minister said.
He said that Ukraine has officially approached the partners in the initiative with a proposal to extend the initiative for at least a year and include the port of Mykolaiv in it, and is awaiting their response.
"It is also important to ensure the effective work of the Joint Coordination Centre. We made our proposals to solve existing problems. We must use all the available export potential of our ports so that the world quickly receives the necessary volumes of food," Kubrakov added.
