Ukraine will ask Türkiye and the United Nations this week to start talks to roll over the Black Sea grain deal, seeking an extension of at least one year that would include the ports of Mykolaiv, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesdayç APA reports citing Reuters.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by the UN and Turkey last July allowed grain to be exported from three Ukrainian ports. The agreement was extended in November and will expire on March 18 unless an extension is agreed.
"A formal proposal will come out from us this week on the need to work on an extension," Yuriy Vaskov, Ukraine's deputy minister of restoration, told Reuters in an interview.
He said the exact date of the talks, which have previously taken place in Türkiye, had not yet been set.
"We will request ... to extend it not for 120 days but for at least one year because the Ukrainian and global agricultural market needs to be able to plan these volumes (of exports) in the long term," Vaskov said.
He said Ukraine would insist on an increase in the number of inspection teams "in order to eliminate the accumulation of vessels waiting for inspections."
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of delaying inspections of ships carrying Ukrainian agricultural goods, leading to reduced shipments and losses for traders.
Russia has denied those accusations, saying it is meeting all its obligations under the grain export deal.
Vaskov said that since November, the situation with inspections had not changed and that there were only three inspection teams from the Russian side.
"There is no positive momentum. At the same time, the UN, Türkiye, and Ukraine are ready to conduct 40 inspections per day if necessary. And there is such a need - about 140 ships are waiting for inspection," he said.
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