July 20 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia plan to ask on July 25 the EU Council to extend the existing suspension of imports of Ukrainian grains beyond September 15 to ensure the competitiveness of their agriculture producers, the agriculture ministry in Sofia said.
Bulgaria's final position on the matter will be put forward by the government, agriculture minister Kiril Vatev said in a press release on Wednesday after a meeting with his counterparts from the other four EU member states.
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In June, the European Commission extended by three months the suspension of imports of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed into the five countries, after significant logistical bottlenecks and limited storage capacity put their infrastructure under strain and led to the imposition of unilateral bans by all except Romania. Bulgaria and the four other frontline states also reached a deal with the EU to receive additional financial aid for local agricultural producers.
The agriculture ministers of the five countries also discussed possible improvements to the transit of Ukrainian agri-food products via the so-called solidarity lanes, the Bulgarian agriculture ministry added. The lanes, set up to facilitate Ukrainian grain exports after Russia's invasion, must continue to operate in the long term so as to guarantee the transit of goods to countries in need, Vatev noted.
The remarks came after earlier this week, the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres deplored a decision by Russia to withdraw from the Black Sea Initiative, a mechanism set up in July 2022 to allow exports of commercial food and fertilisers, including ammonia, from three key Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea.
"I deeply regret the decision by the Russian Federation to terminate the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative – including the withdrawal of Russian security guarantees for navigation in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. This Initiative has ensured the safe passage of over 32 million metric tons of food commodities from Ukrainian ports," Guterres said in a statement.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed with the UN secretary general to "work together with the responsible states to restore food security and food supply via the Black Sea routes," Zelenskyy said in a social media post. He had earlier proposed to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and to Guterres a trilateral deal on food exports, with Ukraine, the UN and Turkey jointly ensuring the operation of the food corridor in the Black Sea and the inspection of vessels.