NEW DELHI: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, attending the G20 summit in India, will announce measures to ease the impact of Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain supplies, which has caused a spike in global food prices.
“Once again, (Russian President) Vladimir Putin has not shown his face in the G20. He has planned his own diplomatic exile, isolating himself in the presidential palace, blocking out criticism and reality. Meanwhile, the remaining G20 countries shows that we will come together and work together to pick up the pieces of Putin’s destruction,” the British High Commissioner was quoted as saying.
“That starts by addressing the dire global consequences of President Putin’s stranglehold on our most basic resources, including blockades and attacks on Ukrainian grain.”
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which had secured shipments of 32 million tonnes of grain, faced a setback when Russia abandoned the deal in July and stepped up attacks on the infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s grain industry.
Russia and Ukraine are the world’s largest producers of food grains, including wheat. Since then, food prices have skyrocketed, with wheat, corn and soybean prices soaring around the world.
For the second year in a row, Putin will miss the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 9-10.
At the summit, Mr Sunak said he chose to attend to help the world’s most vulnerable people cope with the effects of war, and to tackle broader challenges such as climate change and global stability. We plan to emphasize the importance of people demonstrating leadership. In a press release, the High Commission said the economy was deteriorating.
“We use intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to monitor Russian activities in the Black Sea, and if we find warning signs that Russia is preparing attacks on civilian vessels or infrastructure in the Black Sea, we will denounce Russia and use false flags.” “We are going to attack to prevent operations,” said Sunak, “a claim to evade responsibility from Russia.”
As part of these surveillance operations, British aircraft fly over the region to deter illegal Russian attacks on civilian vessels transporting grain.
Since withdrawing from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russia has declared that all ships passing through Ukraine’s Black Sea ports will be treated as warships, regardless of the cargo they carry.
Based on this assessment, the government opened fire and boarded a cargo ship bound for one of Ukraine’s Danube ports, an action the High Commission said could be a violation of international humanitarian law.
Alongside deploying troops to thwart the Russian attack, the UK is also working with the World Food Program to continue efforts started under Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy’s ‘Grains from Ukraine’ initiative. (WFP) to fund £3 million.
The organization was established last November with the aim of sending Ukrainian grain to countries whose populations are suffering from soaring global staple food prices.
In the first six months, the Ukrainian Grain Program enabled the delivery of 170,000 tons of Ukrainian grain to countries including Somalia and Yemen.
The increase in UK funding announced on Friday will enable us to ship more grain to countries that need it, as identified by WFP. Ukraine has become a very important food source for WFP this year.
Until July of this year, when Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grains Initiative, WFP sourced 80% of the world’s wheat grain from Ukraine.
The High Commission has announced that the UK will host an international food security summit in November.
Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the conference brings together representatives of governments, international organizations, NGOs, researchers and private businesses from around the world, including from fragile countries, to explore the causes of food insecurity and malnutrition. will be tackled.
Before Putin’s full-blown invasion, Ukraine was the world’s fifth-largest exporter of wheat, fourth-largest corn, and third-largest rapeseed exporter. Cereals typically account for 41% of Ukraine’s export earnings, and nearly two-thirds of the country’s grain exports go to developing countries.
Families in Ukraine and around the world continue to suffer as a direct result of President Putin’s brutal invasion 18 months ago. Russia has forced 11 million people from their homes, manipulated global energy prices, and made everyday life even more difficult for families around the planet.
In July this year, “Putin again showed his indifference to the human impact of his actions when he withdrew from the Black Sea Grains Initiative.” Under the initiative, brokered in July 2022, Ukraine Grain ships could freely transport Black Sea grain. A port on the Black Sea that is safe from attack.
The deal provided a lifeline for millions of people around the world who depend on Ukraine’s grain exports. The agreement has enabled 33 million tonnes of food to reach people in need in 45 countries around the world in its first year. Putin’s decision to scrap the initiative reduced global grain supplies at a critical time for vulnerable groups, when higher prices mean higher wages for the poorest.
Since July, Russia has also damaged or destroyed at least 26 civilian port facilities, warehouses, silos, and grain elevators. These attacks directly reduced Ukraine’s export capacity by a third, destroying enough grain to feed more than 1 million people for a year.