The UN appoints a new coordinator for the initiative to export grain from Ukrainian ports

Dec. 29 () –

The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has appointed a new coordinator of the organization for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the agreement reached in July between Ukraine and Russia to allow the restart of grain exports through ports ukrainians.

Guterres’ office has indicated that Kuwaiti Abdullah Abdulsamad Dashti will replace Sudanese Amir Mahmud Abula, who had been the UN coordinator for the initiative — launched by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations — since August.

Guterres highlighted Abdullah’s “leadership”, “hard work” and “commitment to launch the initiative”, before stressing that Dashti, who retired in 2021 from the Kuwait Armed Forces with the rank As a vice admiral, “he has 40 years of experience in areas of naval operations (…) both in Kuwait and in multinational deployments.”

The governments of Russia and Ukraine announced an agreement on November 17 to extend the agreement reached in July for the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, although kyiv qualified that it had proposed that it be “at least one year”, something rejected by Moscow.

Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement on July 22 after mediation by Turkey and the United Nations to unblock the export of grain and fertilizers, an agreement that was briefly interrupted by Moscow’s accusations against kyiv for alleged threats to the security of the corridor. Finally, Moscow announced its return to the agreement after citing Ukrainian “guarantees”, although kyiv denied having made any concessions.