On July 17, almost a year after it was signed in Istanbul, Russia decided not to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), which enables Ukraine to export agricultural products to global markets. As the UN Secretary General pointed out, that initiative was "a beacon of hope in a world that is desperately needed."
Before the war and Russia's aggression against Ukraine, which was a key global food supplier, one-fifth of the world's barley came from Ukraine, as well as one-sixth of corn and one-eighth of wheat. After Russia invaded Ukraine, attacking grain fields and silos and blockading Ukrainian ports, global food prices reached record highs and threatened food supplies to many importing countries. BSGI's goal was to re-establish a vital route for agricultural exports from Ukraine and reduce global food prices.
Despite many challenges, the agreement achieved its key objective. As of August 2022, almost 33 million tons of grain and food were exported from Ukraine to 45 different countries, which played a key role in reducing global food prices by about 25% from the record high prices reached immediately after the Russian attacks. According to publicly available trade data, more than half of cereals, including two-thirds of wheat, went to developing countries. In addition, BSGI has ensured continued access to grains for the World Food Program (WFP). During 2023, Ukraine secured 80% of the purchased wheat to support humanitarian operations in countries with the greatest food security problems, such as Afghanistan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Without the Black Sea Route, WFP must source grains elsewhere and at higher prices and longer delivery times at a time when the world is facing an unprecedented food crisis.
Russia made this decision despite renewed proposals by the UN Secretary General to address its objections as well. To deflect blame, Russia claims that its agricultural exports were not facilitated enough. However, this is not borne out by publicly available trade data which show that Russian agricultural exports are booming. Russia also benefited greatly from the Memorandum of Understanding with the UN on Fertilizer Exports, which was negotiated in parallel with the BSGI Agreement. The UN worked tirelessly to clarify regulatory frameworks and cooperated with the private sector to find the necessary solutions in the banking and insurance sectors. These efforts were carried out in close cooperation with the EU and its partners.
Contrary to the lies spread by Russia, the EU has really ensured that our sanctions have no impact on global food security. There are no sanctions on Russian exports of food and fertilizers to third countries, and the EU has provided extensive guidance to economic operators, confirming that such transfers to third countries are permitted. We have also worked with the UN to enable linked payments.
Despite these well-known and verifiable facts, Russia has decided to withdraw from BSGI, using food as a weapon and endangering the global food supply. Hours after withdrawing from the initiative, Russia also began destroying Ukraine's grain warehouses and port infrastructure with daily targeted attacks, not only in the Black Sea, but also on the Danube. As an immediate reaction, the wholesale prices of wheat and corn experienced the largest increase since the beginning of the Russian aggression. Increased food price volatility is likely to continue as long as Russia deliberately puts global food supplies under pressure, exacerbating the global cost-of-living crisis and hitting people in countries dependent on food imports the hardest. This is unacceptable and should be strongly condemned.
As the world grapples with supply disruptions and higher prices, Russia is now reaching out to vulnerable countries, particularly in Africa, with bilateral offers of limited grain supplies, pretending to solve a problem of its own making. It is a cynical policy that consciously uses food as a weapon.
In response to Russia's irresponsible actions, the EU is acting in three main directions. First, we will continue to support the tireless efforts of the United Nations and Turkey to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Second, we continue to strengthen our "corridors of solidarity" as alternative routes for Ukrainian agricultural exports to reach global markets via the EU. These corridors have so far enabled the export of more than 41 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products, and we will increase this as much as possible to mitigate the consequences of Russia's termination of the BSGI. Third, we increased financial aid to countries and people who need it most, securing €18 billion to address food security by 2024.
We call on the international community and all countries to increase their own aid to support global food security. We ask all our partners to encourage Russia to return to negotiations, as the African Union has already done, and to refrain from targeting Ukrainian agricultural infrastructure. With a clear and unified voice, we can get Russia to participate in BSGI again. The world has a common interest in responsible management of global food security. We owe it to the people who need it the most.
The author is the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Vice-President of the European Commission
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