United Nations (agencies)
Martin Griffiths, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator, said yesterday that he hoped that the first shipment of grain from a Ukrainian port on the Black Sea would move as soon as Friday, but he indicated that there were “necessary” details for the safe passage of ships still being worked out. search.
Griffiths said military officials from Turkey, Russia and Ukraine are working with a United Nations team at a joint coordination center in Istanbul to come up with standard operating procedures regarding the agreement, which the four parties reached last Friday.
“These are detailed negotiations based on the agreement, but without these standard operational procedures we cannot manage safe transit for ships,” he told UN member states in a briefing yesterday, acknowledging that “the devil is in the details.”
Shipping companies and insurers that cover ships want to make sure the voyage is safe, and does not pose risks from mines or attacks on ships and their crews. These matters are usually covered by acceptable navigational practices known as standard procedures of operations.
“It’s not just about having one, two or three ships available in ports and ready to move,” Griffiths said.
Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s major grain exporters, and the Russian attack on Ukraine caused a sharp rise in food prices and exacerbated a global food crisis, which the World Food Program said had pushed 47 million people into “severe hunger”.
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