Çavuşoğlu: Grain problem continues
After the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met with Turkish journalists at Turkey’s Permanent Representation to NATO and answered their questions.
While giving information about the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting sessions he attended, Çavuşoğlu stated that the latest situation was evaluated in the session on Ukraine and he gave information about the extension of the Istanbul Grain Agreement.
Çavuşoğlu underlined that during the visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Turkey, they will discuss the accumulated issues at the bilateral level.
“We are working on insurance, payment, services that ships will receive”
In addition, during the meeting, the issues related to the Russia-Ukraine War, Turkey’s diplomatic efforts, mediation and prisoner exchange would come to the fore, Çavuşoğlu said:
“You know for the grain agreement, Russia said this time for 60 days and said that its expectations must be met in order to extend it to 120 days. We are not saying it here to defend Russia, but the problems in grain and fertilizer exports still continue. We talked to the Secretary (Antonio Guterres). We are working on it now. We will share it with you once it matures a bit. Here again, Turkey will play a key role. What are these problems in particular, payment, insurance and services that ships can get from ports. In particular, insurance, The US and UK are key countries in banking and payments, and we discussed these issues in bilateral meetings with both (US Secretary of State Antony) Blinken and (UK Foreign Secretary James) Cleverly.”
“Both sides are preparing for a serious attack”
Emphasizing that as Turkey, they want the end of the Russia-Ukraine War and that the war is harmful to everyone, Çavuşoğlu underlined that they will continue their efforts to bring the parties back to the negotiating table.
Minister Çavuşoğlu said, “But in the upcoming period, both sides are preparing for a serious attack with the coming spring months. We are also concerned about this and we will continue our efforts to reach a lasting peace by ensuring Ukraine’s border and territorial integrity at the negotiation table as soon as possible. ” said.
