NUSA DUA, Indonesia — UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres voiced hope Monday that Russia would extend an expiring deal
that gives safe passage to Ukrainian grain shipments, saying the arrangement was
crucial for food security.
اضافة اعلان
The UN chief, addressing reporters in Bali ahead of
a G20 summit, said that talks over the last week had delivered “a lot of
progress” on the deal that is set to end on Saturday.
“I am hopeful that the Black Sea grain initiative
will be renewed,” Guterres said.
Ukraine is one of the world’s top grain producers,
and the Russian invasion had blocked 20 million tonnes of grain in its ports
until the UN and Turkey brokered the deal in July.
“We need urgent action to prevent famine and hunger
in a growing number of places around the world,” Guterres said.
“The Black Sea grain initiative, and efforts to
ensure Russian food and fertilizers can flow to global markets, are essential
to global food security.”
Russia has said it had yet to decide whether to
extend the grain deal beyond November 19, the original date in the agreement.
The G7 bloc of industrial democracies has urged a
renewal, with the war still raging in Ukraine nine months after
Russia’s
invasion.
Moscow has complained that a second agreement
brokered by the UN and Turkey on its fertilizers being exempt from sanctions
had not been respected.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will head
Moscow’s delegation at the Bali summit, standing in for President Vladimir
Putin.
On a separate issue to be addressed by the G20,
Guterres took aim at global technology firms that he said have allowed their
platforms to be used for human rights and privacy abuses.
He called for “global guardrails” to defend an open
and free internet for all.
“Powerful tech
companies are running roughshod over human rights and personal privacy and
providing platforms for deadly disinformation, in pursuit of profits,” he said.
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