Posted on January, 22, 2025 at 07:28 pm
Officials from Ukraine, the United Kingdom (UK) and Lithuania on Jan. 20 signed an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to initiate the unique Grain Verification Scheme (GVS), which aims to address and prevent the illegal export of Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories.
Since its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Russia has been accused of stealing grain from occupied areas of the country and selling it on a burgeoning black market. The Wall Street Journal reported in September 2024 that Russia had sold nearly $1 billion of stolen grain.
Vitalii Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, who signed the MOU at the Berlin Agriculture Ministers’ Conference, in a government press release called the launch of the GVS system to combat the illegal export of Ukrainian grain from occupied territories “the first step at the ministerial level in the implementation of the strategic agreement between Ukraine and the UK, which will form the basis of our cooperation for the next hundred years. The pilot implementation of this initiative will take place in Lithuania — in the port of Klaipeda, which will become a key hub for verifying the origin of Ukrainian agricultural products.”
Koval said the GVS will identify stolen grain and stop its illegal transportation. It also includes an innovative database from the UK in which advanced technologies for determining the place of cultivation will help protect the interests of Ukrainian farmers and market transparency.
“This cooperation is an example of how Ukraine, the UK and Lithuania are working together to create new standards of safety and fairness in the agricultural sector that will impact the future of food security around the world,” he said.
Source: World Grain