UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Istanbul on Thursday, a UN spokesperson said as United Nations and Turkish officials seek to get a deal with Russia and Ukraine in writing to resume Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports.
“The situation remains a little bit fluid, so I can’t really say when something will be signed,” deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters in New York. “We’re not quite there yet.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that he was hopeful about reaching a deal and that talks were going well. Ankara said a general agreement was reached on a UN-led plan during talks in Istanbul last week and that it wants to put this into writing this week.
Before last week’s talks, diplomats said details of the plan included Ukrainian vessels guiding grain ships in and out through mined port waters; Russia agreeing to a truce while shipments move; and Turkey — supported by the United Nations — inspecting ships to allay Russian fears of weapons smuggling.
The United Nations and Turkey have been working for two months to broker what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called a “package” deal — to resume Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports and facilitate Russian grain and fertilizer shipments.
“The talks should be finalized in the course of this week. We await news at the end of this week,” Ukraine’s Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskiy said on Thursday, adding that Ukraine could potentially quickly restart exports.
“The majority of the infrastructure of ports of wider Odesa — there are three of them — remains, so it is a question of several weeks in the event there are proper security guarantees,” he told Ukranian television.
Russia and Ukraine are both major global wheat suppliers, but Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbor has sent food prices soaring and stoked an international food crisis. The war has stalled Kyiv’s exports, leaving dozens of ships stranded and some 20 million tons of grain stuck in silos at Odesa port.
Moscow has denied responsibility for worsening the food crisis, blaming instead a chilling effect from Western sanctions for slowing its own food and fertilizer exports and Ukraine for mining its Black Sea ports.
A day after the Istanbul talks last week, the United States sought to facilitate Russian food and fertilizer exports by reassuring banks, shipping and insurance companies that such transactions would not breach Washington’s sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
UN chief to visit Turkey as Ukraine grain export deal looms
https://arab.news/9y729
UN chief to visit Turkey as Ukraine grain export deal looms
- "The situation remains a little bit fluid," deputy U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters
- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that he was hopeful about reaching a deal
France, Algeria to resume security cooperation: minister
- Algeria plays a key role in the latter, sharing borders with junta-led Niger and Mali, both gripped by terrorist violence
ALGIERS: France and Algeria agreed on Tuesday to restart security cooperation during a visit to Algiers by French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, marking the first sign of a thaw in diplomatic ties.
After meeting with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Nunez said both sides had agreed to “reactivate a high-level security cooperation mechanism.”
The visit took place against a backdrop of thorny relations between France and its former colony, frayed since Paris in 2024 officially backed Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region, where Algeria supports the pro-independence Polisario Front.
Nunez said Monday had been devoted to working sessions aimed at “restoring normal security relations,” including cooperation in judicial matters, policing and intelligence.
He thanked the Algerian president for instructing his services to work with French authorities to “improve cooperation on readmissions.” Algeria has for months refused to take back its nationals living irregularly in France.
The renewed cooperation is expected to take effect “as quickly as possible” and continue “at a very high level,” Nunez confirmed.
According to images released by Algerian authorities, the talks brought together senior security officials from both countries, including France’s domestic intelligence chief and Algeria’s head of internal security.
Invited by his counterpart Said Sayoud, Nunez’s trip had been planned for months but repeatedly delayed.
Both sides have a backlog of issues to tackle. Before traveling, Nunez said he intended to raise “all security issues,” including drug trafficking and counterterrorism.
Algeria plays a key role in the latter, sharing borders with junta-led Niger and Mali, both gripped by terrorist violence.
Ahead of the trip, Nunez had also mentioned the case of Christophe Gleizes, a French sports journalist serving a seven-year sentence for “glorifying terrorism.”
It is unclear whether the matter was discussed with Tebboune, from whom the journalist’s family has requested a pardon.
