Türkiye determined to transport Russian grain, fertilizer: President Erdogan

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Ankara is determined to strengthen the Istanbul grain deal and to transport Russian grain and fertilizer to underdeveloped countries, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

Erdogan’s remarks came ahead of his meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in the Kazakh capital Astana.

"We are determined to strengthen and continue the grain exports under the Istanbul agreement and the transfer of Russian grain and fertilizer to less developed countries via Turkey," Erdogan said.

"We may work on determining the name of countries. It is important that we focus on the poor countries rather than developed countries," Erdogan said ahead of a bilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul on July 22 to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which paused after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February.