Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that he discussed the idea of the creation of a new "grain corridor" through Turkey for African countries in need at talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Astana.
"You know, we have made a very good start, especially in the Black Sea grain corridor. As you know, we have transported 30 million tonnes of grain along this corridor. I asked them [the Russian side] how they feel about the idea of starting a new process, abandoning grain supplies to the West, which they insist on, and creating a corridor through Turkey to Africa and other regions in need of food security. Mr. Putin replied, 'I support the goal of the Istanbul Grain Initiative in this regard. It is useful to develop this," Erdogan told reporters after returning from the SCO summit.
Erdogan also expressed hope that the Black Sea grain corridor would become operational again.
The Turkey- and UN-mediated Black Sea Grain Initiative, signed in July 2022, which provided for a humanitarian corridor to allow safe sea exports of Ukrainian and Russian agricultural products and fertilizers, expired on July 18, 2023. Russia refused to extend its participation, citing persistent violations of the package deal's component to facilitate Russian grain and fertilizer exports.
The grain deal was an integral part of a package agreement. The second part is the Russia-UN memorandum, designed for three years. It envisioned the unblocking of Russian exports of food and fertilizers; the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to SWIFT; the resumption of supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts and services; the restoration of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline; and a number of other measures. Moscow repeatedly said this part of the package agreement was not being implemented.