New Istanbul Coordination Centre Will Allow Ukrainian Grain Safe Passage through Black Sea Ports, Help Curb Global Food Insecurity, Secretary-General Says at Inauguration

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Secretary-General warmly welcomes the official inauguration of the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul today.  The Joint Coordination Centre is comprised of senior representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Türkiye and the United Nations.

The Secretary-General is grateful to Türkiye for providing the Parties and the United Nations with a platform to help operationalize the Black Sea Grain Initiative.  He thanks the Russian Federation and Ukraine for nominating and quickly sending their senior representatives to Istanbul.

He underscores the importance of the Parties working in partnership directly to effectively implement the Black Sea Grain Initiative, with a view to reducing global food insecurity.

The work of the Joint Coordination Centre will enable the safe transportation, by merchant ships, of grain and related foodstuffs and fertilizers from three key Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea to the rest of the world.  This will help to effectively respond to and prevent rising global food insecurity.

Together with the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Russian Federation and the Secretariat of the United Nations on promoting the access of Russian food products and fertilizers to world markets, it will help reinstate confidence in the global food market and reduce food prices from their current levels.