The G20 statement, issued after the summit in New Delhi yesterday, expressed appreciation for the efforts of Türkiye to revive the two memorandums that made up the Black Sea Grain Initiative “and call for their full, timely and effective implementation to ensure the immediate and unimpeded deliveries of grain, foodstuffs, and fertilizers/inputs from the Russian Federation and Ukraine. This is necessary to meet the demand in developing and least developed countries, particularly those in Africa….
“In this context, emphasizing the importance of sustaining food and energy security, we called for the cessation of military destruction or other attacks on relevant infrastructure. We also expressed deep concern about the adverse impact that conflicts have on the security of civilians thereby exacerbating existing socio-economic fragilities and vulnerabilities and hindering an effective humanitarian response.” the statement added.
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that at the summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged for the G20 leaders to meet some of Russia’s demands, in order to revive the grain deal. According to Bloomberg’s account, Türkiye was asking world leaders to facilitate insurance of Russian food and fertilizer exports by Lloyds of London, and to reconnect Moscow to the SWIFT system for international payments, according to three Turkish officials familiar with the discussions.
