Turkish foreign minister, NATO chief discuss revival of Black Sea grain deal

By Diyar Guldogan

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday discussed over phone revival of the Black Sea grain deal, Turkish diplomatic sources said.

Fidan and Stoltenberg also exchanged views on the latest developments in Ukraine, and Sweden's NATO bid.

The development came a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the coastal city of Sochi. Restoring the 2022 agreement that helped ease global food crisis was top on the agenda.

This July, Moscow suspended its participation in the deal, brokered by Türkiye and the UN, to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports that were paused after the Ukraine war in February 2022.

Moscow has complained that the West failed to meet its obligations on Russia's own grain exports, and that not enough Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need. It says restrictions on payments, logistics, and insurance have stood in the way of its shipments.

Türkiye says the deal should be resumed by addressing deficiencies, and there is no alternative as other proposals have failed to offer a "sustainable, secure and lasting" model.