Official: Russia, UN to discuss grain deal problems on Friday

MOSCOW, May 3 (PRIME) -- Moscow and the U.N. are to hold a new round of consultations on access of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to the global market in the framework of the grain deal on Friday, Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a news briefing on Wednesday.

Secretary General of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebeca Grynspan is to visit Moscow later this week to discuss the deal.

“Our assessment of compliance with the Russia–U.N. memorandum on access of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to the global market are well known and they have not changed,” Zakharova said.

“I can say that the Russian interdepartmental delegation and the U.N. representatives led by UNCTAD Secretary General Rebecca Grynspan are to have another round of consultations on May 5 in Moscow.”

She also said that the date of a high-level meeting for prolongation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative was still being coordinated.

“Representatives of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the U.N. are constantly communicating in the joint coordination center in Istanbul, inspections have to be conducted … Arrangement of a high-level meeting in the short term is actually under discussion, and the date has not been coordinated yet,” she said.

Russia previously prolonged the grain deal for 60 days until May 18.

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