Posted on September, 6, 2023 at 08:05 am
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed the Black Sea Grain Initiative and Sweden's NATO membership bid with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry noted they touched upon the latest developments in Ukraine, including the steps that are being taken to revive the grain deal and issues regarding Sweden's membership.
No further information was provided about the meeting.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was close to finalizing an agreement that would facilitate free exports of grain from Russia to six African nations with the help of Türkiye and Qatar, stressing the proposal was not planned as an alternative to the grain initiative.
He made the comments after holding a meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Brokered by Türkiye and the U.N., the deal was seen as vital for global food supplies, especially in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Ukraine and Russia are major suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other goods that developing nations rely on.
Russia put the deal on hold, complaining that a parallel deal promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn't been honored and that not enough Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need. It said restrictions on shipping and insurance hampered its agricultural trade even though it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.
Türkiye remains concerned about whether Sweden will effectively pursue counterterrorism efforts as it expected before approving the membership.
Sweden desperately seeks Türkiye's approval, a key ally of NATO, as it hopes to join Finland, whose membership was approved by Ankara earlier, as the security concerns escalated amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Source: Daily Sabah