Top UN officials vowed Friday to keep working for an extension of the deal that allows food and fertilizer exports from Russia and Ukraine despite their war, pushing back at Moscow’s pessimism about a renewal before the July 17 expiration, Edith M. Lederer reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both countries to make global food security a priority.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both countries to make global food security a priority and “help ensure that these products can reach global markets smoothly, efficiently and at scale,” UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
“Together, the agreements are contributing to sustained reductions in global food prices, which are now more than 23% below the record highs reached in March last year.”
Turkey and the UN brokered a breakthrough accord with the warring sides last July, which has enabled Ukraine to ship over 32 million tons of grain from Black Sea ports to global markets.
Moscow, however, complains that the separate UN-Russia memorandum on facilitating shipments of Russian food and fertilizer still faces serious obstacles.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Friday that the UN has heard repeated statements from Russia “saying that there’s been no advantage to them and time’s up.” But as the secretary-general made clear, “This doesn’t deter us from doing everything we can to work for a deal,” he said.
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