Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food will deepen cooperation with the UN World Food Program

The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyy during a meeting with the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program David Muldrow Beasley discussed issues of global food security arising from the Russian war in Ukraine, 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 grave consequences for 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. In addition, 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 Solskyy stressed.

David Muldrow Beasley got acquainted with the work of the 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 and Food.

The parties also tackled a possibility of purchasing surplus grain in Ukraine through the World Food Programme in order to ensure the provision of food to African and Middle Eastern countries and prevent global hunger in these regions, which is a real threat.

In addition, David Muldrow Beasley said that the World Food Programme had 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 critical regions. We are talking about about 40,000 tons of food products. Seven warehouses were opened in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Odesa and Kropyvnytsky. While in Lviv, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, financial assistance is provided to displaced persons.

Mykola Solskyy thanked the partners for their help to Ukraine during this difficult time and expressed hope for deepening cooperation in all areas discussed at the meeting.