UN Chief says system of mutual guarantees needed to restore grain deal

MOSCOW, September 7 (Sputnik) – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday that it was necessary to create a system of mutual guarantees to restore the grain deal and the UN was making all efforts to make this possible, working with all the parties involved.

“We believe that it’s necessary to create a system of mutual guarantees, a guarantee that the Russian Federation is able indeed to overcome the difficulties that still exist, even if many have been solved, and at the same time guarantee that we will have the restoration of the Black Sea Initiative,” Guterres said at the ASEAN-UN summit in Jakarta.

He added that the restoration of the grain deal is one of the main UN priorities and that it is actively working to create an atmosphere, in which the solution of the problem will be possible.

On July 18, the Turkey- and UN-mediated Black Sea Grain Initiative, or the grain deal, which provided for a humanitarian corridor to allow exports of Ukrainian grain over the past year amid the Russian military operation expired as Russia did not renew its participation in the deal.

Moscow said that the deal’s component on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports had not been fulfilled.