UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will discuss the renewal of the grain deal with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as with presidents of Turkey and Ukraine Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Zelensky next week. The discussions will be held at personal meetings as part of the high-level week of the UN General Assembly.
"Next week, I will be receiving president Zelensky I will be receiving president Erdogan I will be receiving minister Lavrov and obviously, this question will be on the table of our discussions," he told a press conference responding to a relevant question.
Guterres noted that he will hold separate contacts with representatives of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Turkey and does not plan to gather them together.
"I remained determined to do everything possible to establish the Black Sea initiative, the exports of Ukraine foodstuffs, and also to go on our work in relation to the facilitation within the sanctions regime of the Russian foods and fertilizer products," he added.
The UN General Assembly High-level Week will take place September 19-23 in New York. The Russian delegation will be headed by Sergey Lavrov.
On July 17, Russia refused to continue its participation in the grain deal, which was reached a year ago to ensure safe exports of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea. President Vladimir Putin stated that none of the terms of the deal regarding the removal of sanctions from Russian exports of grain and fertilizers to world markets had been fulfilled.
He repeatedly pointed out that the West exported most of Ukrainian grain to its own states, while the main task of the agreement - supplies to countries in need - was never fulfilled. Nevertheless, Moscow stated that it was ready to immediately return to the deal, once its part that concerns Russia is implemented.