Guterres calls for unblocking Russian fertilizer exports to avoid food crisis

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UN Secretary General António Guterres warned Thursday of the possibility of global food shortages next year if the fertilizer market does not stabilize, and called for unblocking Russian fertilizer exports.

“If the fertilizer market does not stabilize, next year the world may run out of food,” the UN secretary general said in a message posted on the social network Twitter.

Guterres has assured that it is “essential” that all countries remove obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers, which are blocked due to sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

“We need to get them to farmers at a reasonable cost and to the fields as soon as possible,” Guterres has called for in his message.

All in all, the UN secretary general has met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to jointly reaffirm the need to “fully implement” the grain export agreement signed between Russia and Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, as reported by the TASS agency, has detailed that Guterres and Lavrov have discussed “in detail” the implementation in the Istanbul agreements on exports from Black Sea ports of “unimpeded” exports of Russian agricultural products, including fertilizers.

“The parties reaffirmed the need to implement them in full and as a package,” the Russian diplomacy has detailed.