Despite the large-scale war, Ukraine continues to be one of the leading global exporters of grain and food products. This is crucial for global food security, so the international community should support the efforts of Ukraine in exporting agricultural products.

Special Envoy for Ukraine of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jan de Pauw said this during the panel “Ensuring Global Food Security” in Ankara, Ukrinform reports.

“Ukraine is one of the leading global exporters of grain and food products, agricultural products. Thus, it is one of the guarantors of global food security because of its exports and their nature. And when this is hindered, when it is actually made impossible in many ways, as it was at the beginning of the full-scale invasion and is still the case, we need to support Ukraine in maintaining these efforts,” Jan de Pauw said.

He emphasized that Belgium supports efforts to ensure global food security for three main reasons: the global impact on the lives of millions of people, support for Ukraine in its fight against russian aggression, and countering russian attempts to distort information and block food supplies from Ukraine.

“It is important to keep the Ukrainian economy as viable as possible, to make sure that the Ukrainian state can function… Preserving the capabilities of the Ukrainian economy, production, exports, trade, I think, is very important to support Ukraine itself,” said the Special Envoy for Ukraine of the Belgian Foreign Ministry.

Jan de Pauw also noted that the negative reaction of the border countries to the import of Ukrainian grain and agricultural products is one of the reasons for the destabilization of the situation. According to him, it is necessary to work carefully on this challenge to ensure the continued flow of agricultural goods to and through Europe.

At the same time, Corinne Fleischer, Regional Director of the UN World Food Program, reminded that Ukraine is an important food supplier for the world, providing food for 400 million people.

“The World Food Program itself, through the Black Sea Grain Initiative, has provided 725 thousand tons of food to the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, Yemen and other countries. And we continue to export food from Ukraine to Gaza, to various countries,” said Corinne Fleischer.

According to her, the program’s donors have provided $200 million to support supplies from Ukraine to the countries that need it most.

Source: https://agroportal.ua