Turkey and Ukraine complete “technical phase” of preparations to resume grain export

31 (EUROPE PRESS)

The Turkish government has announced the completion of the “technical phase” of preparations for the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports, which could begin as soon as next Monday, if the administrative procedures with the Russian authorities are resolved without further problems, according to a statement sent by the Turkish Ministry of Defense and later confirmed the Presidency.

“The technical work has been completed and shipments are expected to start as soon as possible after administrative preparations,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced after the last conversation with Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, and the Minister of Infrastructure, Oleksandr Kubrakov.

All parties have declared their satisfaction with the so-called Joint Coordination Center, the body in charge of monitoring that the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports occurs without incident.

The center is the result of the international agreement reached last week in Istanbul between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN, and by which a coalition will supervise the loading of grain on ships in the Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chernomosk and Pivdenyi, before to navigate a pre-planned route through the Black Sea.

Shortly after, Ibrahim Kalin, the main adviser and spokesman for the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has advanced that the first ship could leave the Ukrainian port of Odessa even early this coming Monday, August 1.

“The ships are ready to leave the port of Odessa,” Kalin told the Kanal 7 network in an interview collected by the newspaper ‘Hurriyet’. Although the spokesman has acknowledged that there are “some problems to be resolved with the Russian side”, as well as details on the direction of the ships, “if they are resolved tonight, everything would be ready for the first ship to leave the port”, he nuanced.

The ships will cross the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait, where this joint coordination center has been established in Istanbul, which includes representatives from the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey. Likewise, this center will be in charge of examining the ships that enter Ukraine to guarantee that they do not carry weapons or combat material.