African Union Commission head lauds Ukraine grain deal

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) – The head of the African Union Commission has praised the deal signed Friday in Istanbul to resume grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

Moussa Faki Mahamat welcomed “the signing by Russia and Ukraine of agreements under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Türkiye and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the export of grain and agricultural products via the Black Sea,” read a statement issued late on Friday.

He commended “all the parties on this successful development.”

Mahamat also congratulated Senegal’s President Macky Sall, who as current chair of the African Union (AU), “called for the urgent need for the resumption of cereals from Ukraine and Russia to global markets,” the statement said.

Sall had conveyed this to “President Vladimir Putin during a joint AU mission to Sochi” on June 3, and this “welcome development is a testament” to those efforts, the AU chief said.

With the mediation of Türkiye and the UN, Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement in Istanbul on the resumption of Ukraine’s grain shipments from Black Sea ports.

Under the deal, reached on a UN-led plan during talks in Istanbul, a coordination center will be established to carry out joint inspections at the entrances and exits of harbors, and to ensure the safety of the routes.

Internationally praised for its mediator role, Ankara has coordinated with Moscow and Kyiv to open a corridor from the Ukrainian port city of Odesa to resume global grain shipments long stuck due to the Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fifth month.​​​​​​​