MOSCOW, Russia
Russia's Agriculture minister
said late on Tuesday that Moscow had completed its initiative of shipping
200,000 metric tonnes of free grain to six African countries, as promised by President Vladimir Putin in July last
year.Russian President Vladimir Putin (not in picture) told African leaders in St Petersburg in July 2023 that Russia would send up to 50,000 tons of grain for free to six African countries.
Russia shipped 50,000 tonnes
each to Somalia and the Central African Republic (CAR) and
25,000 tonnes each to Mali, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe and Eritrea, Agriculture
Minister Dmitry Patrushev told Putin during a meeting, according to transcript
on the Kremlin's website.
Putin had promised to deliver
free grain to the six countries at a summit with African leaders in July, soon
after Moscow withdrew from a deal that had allowed Ukraine to ship grain from
its Black Sea ports despite the war Russia has been waging.
The deal, known as the Black
Sea grain initiative, had helped lower prices on the global market. But Putin
argued it was failing to get supplies to the countries in most urgent need.
"After the Russia-Africa summit, we have been maintaining relations
(with African countries and building cooperation," Patrushev told Putin.
"As a result, we were
able to deliver this volume of wheat to these countries quite quickly."
He also told Putin that Russia
expects to export up to 70 million metric tonnes of grain in the 2023-2024
agricultural year. In the previous season, Russia shipped 66 million tonnes
worth almost $16.5 billion, he added.
The 2023-2024 agricultural
year started July 1, 2023, and lasts until June 30, 2024.
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