The US and the UN will cooperate to prevent an agricultural crisis from occurring due to grain shortages

05/17/2022 at 00:30

EST


USA assured this Monday that he supports the negotiations of the UN with Russia Y Ukraine to try to return to international markets the exports of agricultural products – mainly cereals– paralyzed by war and which, according to the organization, are already increasing hunger in the world.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters that her country has discussed this issue with the organization’s secretary general, António Guterres, and supports “all efforts to find mechanisms to return Ukrainian grain to the market”.

In recent days, Guterres has stressed that both food and fertilizers from Ukraine and Russia must return to circulation as soon as possible to prevent hunger from multiplying in the world and has opted for “swift and decisive action” in this area, in which it is trying to achieve some understanding between Moscow and kyiv.

Since the start of the war, the United Nations has repeatedly warned that the stop in the exports of cereals and fertilizers can have a devastating effectespecially for dozens of poor countries that depend especially on Russian and Ukrainian products.

Own Until now, the UN World Food Program bought half of the grain from Ukraine. that it uses to combat hunger in different parts of the world and has warned that it may have serious difficulties in replacing it.

The war in Ukraine has also contributed to a rising global food pricesharming food security around the globe.

The United States called for this Wednesday a ministerial meeting in New York in which the problem will be addressedwhich will also be discussed at a UN Security Council session the following day.

The two appointments will be chaired by the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

Today, at a press conference prior to the meetings, Thomas-Greenfield insisted that the world food situation has worsened “as a consequence of the Russian aggression in Ukraine and of “Russian efforts to block Ukrainian wheat exports.”

In this regard, he stressed that the wide ones US sanctions against Moscow they do not touch agricultural products and that the war is the reason why the exports of the two countries have stopped.

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