MOSCOW – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has chartered the first ship to transport fertilizers from Russia to African countries, WFP CEO David Beasley said.
“At the request of the UN, the first shipment of 20,000 MT of NPK will be loaded onto a WFP-chartered vessel next week and will sail from the Netherlands the week of 21 November. The vessel will sail via Mozambique, with Malawi as the final destination,” the WFP said in a Saturday statement.
WFP CEO David Beasley confirmed on Twitter on Saturday that the first shipment of fertilizers from Russia is getting prepared.
“WFP is chartering the first of many vessels that will transport critical supplies of Russian fertilizer to nations across Africa. Protecting the #BlackSeaGrainInitiative is critical to stemming the tide of global hunger & famine in the months ahead,” Beasley said.
On July 22, Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey signed an UN-brokered initiative to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that most of the ships carrying Ukrainian grain did not make it to the world’s poorest countries and ended up in Europe.
The parties agreed for the agreement to last 120 days and expire on November 19. However, on October 29, Russia suspended its participation in the grain deal after its military and civilian ships were attacked by Ukraine in the bay of Sevastopol.
Moscow returned to the agreement earlier this month, after receiving written guarantees from Ukraine that Kiev will refrain from using the humanitarian corridor for military purposes. Kiev has denied providing any additional guarantees.