BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union is ready to export almost all of Ukraine’s agricultural goods in “cooperative ways”, EU agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said on Tuesday, after Russia pulled out of a UN-backed Black Sea deal this month.
Solidarity routes are rail and road transport links through EU member states bordering Ukraine.
“This is not the first time that Russia has used food as a weapon…the situation is the same as at the beginning of the war,” Wojciechowski said.
“We are ready to export almost everything. This is about four million tons per month of oil and grains and we achieved this volume in November last year,” he added.
Wojciechowski said 60% of Ukraine’s exports were sent through union channels and 40% went through the Black Sea while the UN-backed food grain agreement was in effect.
Political Cartoons of World Leaders
The collapse of this agreement is expected to have a major impact on African countries that depend on sea transport.
The commissioner added that the EU is looking for more measures from member states to come up with a joint plan to cover the additional costs of transporting Ukrainian agricultural goods.
Wojciechowski said there was no immediate estimate of the cost of financing the transportation.
The expansion of grain flows through the EU is sensitive to Poland and other EU countries bordering Ukraine, where local farmers have come under pressure from increased Ukrainian production.
(Reporting by Julia Payne and Geert De Clercq; Editing by Susan Fenton and Christina Fincher)
Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.
| Daily News Post