ANKARA — The first shipment of
Ukrainian grain left the
port of Odessa on Monday under a deal aimed at relieving a global food crisis
following Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, the Turkish defense ministry said.
اضافة اعلان
“The ship Razoni
has left the port of Odessa bound for Tripoli in Lebanon. It is expected in
Istanbul on August 2. It will then continue its journey after it has been
inspected in Istanbul,” the ministry said.
The vessel was
carrying 26,000 tonnes of corn, according to Ukraine’s infrastructure minister
Oleksandr Kubrakov.
It was expected
to reach the mouth of the Bosphorus on Tuesday at around midday, according to
Yoruk Isik, an expert on ship movements on the Bosphorus Strait and in the
region.
Other convoys
would follow, respecting the maritime corridor and the agreed formalities in
line with the agreement reached with Russia on July 22, Turkey said.
Built in 1996
and measuring 186m in length and 25m in width, the Razoni, which is flying
under the Sierra Leone flag, has capacity of 30,000 tonnes.
On July 22,
Ukraine and Russia signed a landmark deal with Turkey and the UN aimed at
easing a global food crisis caused by blocked Black Sea grain deliveries.
Turkey formally
opened a special joint coordination center in Istanbul last Wednesday to
oversee the exports. The center is being staffed by civilian and military
officials from the two warring parties and delegates from Turkey and the UN.
Their primary
assignment involves monitoring the safe passage of Ukrainian grain ships along
established routes and overseeing their inspection for banned weapons on the
way into and out of the Black Sea.
The blockage of
deliveries from two of the world’s biggest grain exporters has contributed to a
spike in prices that has made food imports prohibitively expensive for some of
the world’s poorest countries.
UN estimates say
nearly 50 million people began to face “acute hunger” around the world as a
direct consequence of the war.
Wheat prices fell
sharply hours after the grain deal was signed.
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