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After Senegal Nigeria also offered Ukraine to create a logistics hub for regular supplies of grain and food - Mykola Solskyi

This was stated by the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mr. Mykola Solskyi after the meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Mr. Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar.

The Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, will hand over more than 700 generators to support the Ukrainian energy system. From this quantity, at least 25 generators will be provided to food producers, in particular, for the production of bread, milk, livestock products, electricity supply to storage warehouses, etc.

As a part of the visit of the Ukrainian delegation to Africa, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mr. Mykola Solskyi on January 9, 2023 had a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Infrastructure and Food Sovereignty of the Republic of Senegal Mr. Aly Ngouille Ndiaye.

The parties discussed the prospects of relations between Ukraine and Senegal and the development of cooperation in the agricultural sector.

On October 29, Russia announced it had quit the “grain deal” brokered by the UN and Turkey in July to allow Ukraine to export grain by the Black Sea. Moscow presented its move as a response to an alleged attack by Ukraine on the Russian fleet around Sevastopol city. Despite Russia’s warnings, a group of ships loaded with grain nonetheless exited through the safe corridor, exporting grain that had been loaded in Ukrainian ports. Shortly thereafter, Russia made a U-turn and announced it would return to the agreement after negotiations with Turkey. Moscow cited “written guarantees” from Ukraine that Kyiv would not use this corridor for military purposes or attacks against Russia.

This brief spat over the deal, which to that point had worked for all parties, left a mixed impression. On the one hand, Russia’s actions underscored that the agreement was vulnerable and weak, and made clear Moscow’s readiness to abandon it at any moment it saw fit. On the other hand, Turkey’s intervention, which secured the continuation of the deal and convinced the Kremlin to rejoin it, illustrated the significant influence Ankara wields in the Black Sea, both as a key interlocutor between parties and as a counteracting player to Russia.