The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi during a meeting with the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme David Maldow Beasley discussed issues of global food security arising from the Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as joint actions of Ukraine and the world to prevent food crisis. The Minister stressed the need to unblock Ukrainian ports and shipping routes to ensure logistical links for agricultural supplies.

“Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine will have huge consequences for the global food security. Therefore, in order to stabilize the situation, it is important to ensure the logistics of agricultural supplies from Ukraine – through unblocked ports and alternative routes. Besides this, small and medium-sized Ukrainian farms and agricultural enterprises, which play an important role in ensuring national and global food security, need urgent assistance,“ - Mykola Solskyi said.

David Maldow Beasley got acquainted with the work of the UN World Food Programme Ukrainian government on alternative logistics routes for the export of agricultural products and promised a constant dialogue on this issue with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy. 

The possibility of purchasing extra grain in Ukraine with the help of the UN World Food Programme was also discussed in order to feed African and Middle Eastern countries and prevent global hunger in these regions, which is very real now.

Besides this, David Maldow Beasley said that the UN World Food Programme has already deployed large-scale humanitarian aid to Ukrainians affected by the war. Thus, in particular, contacts were established with bakeries, flour mills and food industry enterprises in Ukraine for the purchase of goods in mostly affected regions. This is about 40 thousand tons of food products. Seven warehouses were opened in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Odesa and Kropyvnytskyi. And in Lviv, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions financial assistance is provided to refugees. 

Mykola Solskyi thanked the partners for their help to Ukraine during these difficult times and expressed hope for deepening cooperation in all spheres discussed in the meeting.

Reference source: The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine