On the eve of the NATO summit in Lithuania next week, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski met this Friday in istanbul with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to discuss the Ukrainian grain export agreement in the Black Sea, the Ukraine’s application for entry into the Alliance and the Turkish veto on Sweden, among other issues.
Zelensky arrived in Türkiye after visiting Bulgaria y Czech Republicon a tour of Eastern Europe to collect support for Ukraine’s application for entry into the I’LL TAKE.
“Ukraine should be a member of NATO”, the Turkish president pointed out during the joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart. Zelenski, for his part, thanked the support of Ankara. “During our meeting we have signed a bilateral agreement. We have also discussed the NATO summit. I am glad that the (Turkish) president has expressed his support for Ukraine’s membership. I am sure that our people will work to improve,” he added. Zelensky.
One of the main issues on the table was the renewal of the grain agreement, a pact between kyiv and Moscow that allows a safe corridor for the international transport of grain from Ukraine.
The agreement, initiated just a year ago thanks to the mediation of Turkey and the HIM, has been constantly renewed with the efforts of several international actors and has allowed the export of 32 million tons of grain in the last year. Now again, Turkey and other international players are forced to mediate because the agreement expires on July 17 and Russia has not yet given the green light to go ahead with the pact.