ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday requested European Union envoy Josep Burrell to reinstate an international agreement that permitted the safe exports of Ukrainian grains to mostly developing countries, conveying Islamabad’s concerns about possible food inflation if the deal is not reinstated.

Negotiated by Turkiye and the United Nations in July 2022, the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), also known as the “grain deal” allowed ships carrying agricultural and fertilizer products to leave three Ukrainian exports, traveling carefully through mapped routes to snake past Russian warships to Turkiye’s Bosporous trait. Much of the 38.2 million tons of wheat, grains and corn that were exported since last year went to developing countries, particularly in Africa.

The deal, which helped alleviate global food shortages and help cut food costs by about 23 percent since March 2022, suffered a setback when last Monday Russia announced it was pulling out of the agreement. Russian President Vladimir Putin alleged the West had “emasculated and perverted” the deal and used it for political blackmail. Fearing a surge in food prices and resulting shortages of food grains, developing countries, including Pakistan, have called for the deal to be urgently reinstated.

“Expressing Pakistan’s concerns over the expiry of the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI), the Foreign Minister said that the resulting food inflation and food security-related challenges would adversely impact developing countries like Pakistan which were already under economic pressure,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said in a press release.

These remarks were made by Bhutto Zardari during a telephonic conversation with EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. MoFA said he spoke to his Ukrainian and Turkish counterparts regarding the deal, hoping efforts to revive it would come to fruition through “dialogue and constructive engagement accommodating the concerns of all parties.”

“The Foreign Minister requested the EU High Representative to play his role to help find a solution that would allow the renewal of BSGI, and conveyed Pakistan’s readiness to contribute to collective efforts in that regard,” MoFA said.

Both representatives agreed to remain engaged on the issue and other matters of mutual interest.

To revive a standby $3 billion bailout package with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Pakistan scrapped fuel subsidies last year, resulting in a massive hike in fuel and food prices. Pakistan’s poverty rate is expected to reach 37.2 percent this year, according to a World Bank report released in April, as the South Asian country reels from an economic crisis that has seen its foreign exchange reserves decline to historic lows and its currency plummet against the US dollar over the past year.