Sanjana B, Pune
Russia, to maintain its diplomatic ties with the African continent, has assured delivery of free grains to six countries during the two-day Russia-Africa Summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated his intention to ship around 50,000 tons of grains free of charge after backing out of the Black Sea Grain Deal.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative (BGSI) was a deal made between Turkey, the United Nations, and Russia in July 2022. It ensured that, despite the latter’s invasion of Ukraine, its grain could be exported to other countries from three key Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest breadbaskets and has supplied around 725,200 metric tons of grains as an aid during a global food crisis to countries like Ethiopia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti, and Yemen. However, on July 17, Russia withdrew from this UN-brokered deal, citing that the conditions for the deal’s extension were not met.
Russia backing out of this deal can cause a global food crisis and, incidentally, increase food prices around the world, said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Russia’s promised shipment to six African countries – Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Eritrea, and the Central African Republic over the next three-four months – will not make up for Russia’s dismissal of BGSI, the UN warned. The United Nations is reportedly in contact with Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and other countries to try to reestablish the deal.
The two-day summit, called ‘The Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum’ was held in St. Petersburg on July 27 and 28. The 2019 Russia-Africa summit saw around 43 leaders in attendance, compared to this year’s turnout of 16 African leaders. The theme of the summit was, “For peace, security, and development”. Russia blamed the poor turnout of African leaders on the pressure America and other Western countries have put on them, citing ethical concerns. However, some African countries, like Kenya, have been independently critical of Russia’s decision to withdraw from BGSI.