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Today's Headlines - 19 July 2023
The Black Sea grain
deal expired
GS Paper - 2 (International Relations)

The last ship carrying grain from Ukraine, under a UN-brokered deal that guarantees its safe passage, left the port of Odesa. This deal expired, and Russia has still not agreed to extend it.

What is the Black Sea grain deal?

Ukraine is among the world’s biggest exporter of foodgrains, such as wheat and corn, and a major contributor to the UN’s food aid programmes.
When Russia invaded the country and blockaded its ports, it sent food prices soaring and raised fears of food security in the poorer nations of the world. Pakistan, for instance, saw wheat prices skyrocket to crisis levels.
On 22 July 2022, the UN and Turkey got Russia to agree to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, under which cargo ships would be allowed to travel from and to three Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi (Yuzhny), after inspection that they weren’t carrying arms.
The safe passage in the Black Sea was 310 nautical miles long and three nautical miles wide. The deal has been extended twice, and expires.
According to a report from June, nearly 32 million tonnes of mostly corn and wheat have been exported by Ukraine under the deal.
Why has Russia not agreed to renew it?

Russia claims that the promises made to it under the deal have not been met, and it is still facing trouble exporting its own agricultural products and fertilisers because of the many sanctions the West has slapped on it.
While there is no direct restriction on Russia’s agricultural products, the country says barriers on payment platforms, insurance, shipping and other logistics are hampering its exports.
Russia has also said that it had agreed to the grain deal in order to help ensure global food security, but Ukraine has since exported mainly to high-and middle-income countries. The UN says while this is true, poorer countries have been helped by food prices cooling down.
The European Union (EU) is now considering connecting a subsidiary of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), from which it was cut off due to the war, to allow grain and fertiliser transactions.

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