The Hungarian farm minister stated that he was going to visit Turkey regarding the extension of the Black Sea Grain Corridor deal.

The Hungarian farm minister announced his upcoming visit to Turkey to engage in talks with his Turkish counterpart regarding the extension of the critical grain trade deal. The deal enables Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports, and its expiration is imminent, scheduled for next week.

Moscow has expressed its reluctance to extend the agreement beyond July 17. Russian official recently stated that there was no reason to extend the deal. There have been similar negative statements by Russian officials regarding the extension of the agreement close to the expiration date. Yet the deal was renewed following intense diplomatic efforts.

In July 2022, the United Nations and Turkey mediated an agreement between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea region. The objective was to address the global food crisis caused by Russia's invasion, allowing the export of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports. 

ERDOĞAN AND ZELENSKY HAD DISCUSSED AGREEMENT IN ISTANBUL

During their recent one-on-one meeting in Istanbul last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the Black Sea Grain Corridor Agreement, which is set to expire on July 17, along with the bilateral relations between the two countries and recent developments in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Following the approximately 2.5-hour-long meeting, President Erdoğan stated, "I hope that the expiring term will be extended beyond July 17. We expect the agreement to be valid not every two months, but at least every three months. We will make efforts to extend the duration to two years. We have also discussed this issue with the President this evening. Hopefully, it will be one of the most important topics on our agenda in our upcoming face-to-face meeting with President Putin, both in our telephone diplomacy and in the meeting next month."