Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says food crisis can be resolved through grain exports to poorest countries under Black Sea Grain Initiative

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that the construction of a gas hub in Türkiye can help resolve the global energy crisis while exports of agricultural products to the “poorest” countries under the Black Sea Grain Initiative can contribute toward resolving the global food crisis.

Speaking via video conference at an online ministerial meeting of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), Lavrov said the reason for both crises are Western sanctions.

"The Russian side has announced key initiatives to overcome the current crises in the energy and food sectors in the poor countries of the Global South, provoked by the illegitimate sanctions of the collective West and its previous systemic miscalculations.

"In concrete terms, this is the creation of a gas distribution center in Türkiye and giving priority to the exporting of agricultural products to the most needy poor countries as part of the package of the Black Sea Grain Initiative," he said.

The next meeting of the BSEC foreign ministers is slated for the second half of 2023 in Türkiye.