As world leaders gather in Delhi on Friday ahead of the G-20 summit, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is on a mission to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI or BSI), in talks on the sidelines of the summit hosted by India. The deal that facilitates export of grain from Russia and Ukraine lapsed in July.
Among those in Delhi, Turkiye President Recep Erdogan, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as well as leaders of European Union and UN officials will be trying to work a compromise that would give assurances to Russia, for an exchange that would allow grain export from blockaded Ukrainian ports to restart at the earliest, sources told The Hindu.
The BSI, that was signed in 2022 to avert massive shortages of wheat, sunflower oil, and other commodities due to the Ukraine conflict, lapsed on July 17 this year after Russia refused to renew the deal citing “unkept promises” by Western countries.
