Africans who came to Putin's summit call for resumption of Ukrainian grain agreement
The African Union is calling for the immediate resumption of a UN-brokered deal that allows Ukraine to export millions of tonnes of grain, which was terminated at Russia’s whim.
Source: Politico reports that this statement of the representatives of the countries of the African continent was voiced by the President of the Comoros Islands, Azali Assoumani, who heads the African Union of 55 countries, in an interview with the Russian Kremlin-aligned news agency RIA Novosti
Quote: "We will discuss it with Putin to see how we can restart this agreement," said Comoros President Azali Assoumani, who heads the 55-nation African Union.
Quote:"The problem of grains and fertilizers concerns everyone," Assoumani added.
Putin is meeting with 17 African leaders on 27-28 July as the increasingly isolated Russian leader tries to maintain relations with the African continent, which has close historical ties to Moscow.
Background:
During the Russian-African summit in St Petersburg, Putin promised to supply free grain to six African countries. He said that in the coming months, "the Russian Federation will deliver 25,000 to 50,000 tonnes of grain to African countries for free and will provide free delivery."
According to the Russian president, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea will receive the grain.
Putin claimed that the Russian Federation withdrew from the "grain agreement" because it did not justify the humanitarian purpose of reducing the risk of famine in the poorest countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
At the Russia-Africa summit, Putin also stated that the total amount of the debt of African countries written off by Moscow is currently US$23 billion. "According to the latest requests from African countries, we will allocate more than US$90 million for these purposes and their development," he said.
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