UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday appointed a new coordinator for the Black Sea Grains Initiative, an agreement between the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.
Sudanese Amir Mahmoud Abdulla, in office since August, is replaced by Kuwaiti Abdullah Abdul Samad Dashti, a retired admiral from his country’s armed forces. In recent years, he has also been Kuwait’s military attaché in Belgium and his country’s representative to NATO.
This Black Sea Grain Initiative (the official name of the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports from Ukrainian ports) stems from an agreement sealed on July 22 and has helped alleviate the global food crisis caused by the war. It was renewed in mid-November for the four winter months.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy, a total of 580 ships so far carrying 15 million tons of grain have left Ukrainian ports since July bound for Asia, Africa and Europe.