- According to Zelensky, his country needs to assure the world of food security even after the war with Russia is over.
- He said that having a neighbour like Russia necessitates one to have contingency measures in place, which will ensure continued supply of grain.
Image: OPU
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has explained why his administration is considering building grain hubs in Africa and other parts of the world.
According to Zelensky, his country needs to assure the world of food security even after the war with Russia is over.
He said that having a neighbour like Russia necessitates one to have contingency measures in place, which will ensure a continued supply of grain in case of another invasion.
Zelensky who spoke to a group of African journalists in Kyiv said that he had already informed African leaders who visited Ukraine in efforts to broker a peace deal with Russia of the intention.
He noted that his administration is willing and ready to invest in building the grain hubs and he is only waiting to receive proposals from African countries that want to be a part of it. The Ukrainian President disclosed that Morocco is one such country.
He added that this part of what he would like to also discuss with African leaders, especially on the identification of places where pilot gran hubs can be established on the continent.
"With a neighbour like Russia, even after the war is over we will have to guarantee food security for nations around the world, Africa, Europe, elsewhere and we understand that Russia may once again try and block something and so the idea is to build overseas destination including Morocco, we are waiting for information and proposals," Zelensky said.
"We'll be happy to hear those proposals, we'll be ready to invest in building hubs like that because once they are operational we will not depend on the sentiments and thoughts of someone who is in Kremlin. We should not depend on a third party."
The Ukrainian President insisted that there are a lot of challenges countries can focus on solving, and these grain hubs will ensure a continued supply of grain even during a crisis.
Zelensky said they are not only doing this for the sake of the rest of the world but for the sake of Ukraine as well.
He said that Ukrainian farmers want to sell their grain and this is the best way it can happen, with the war on.
"When we say Ukraine can help Africa with grain, we do that because we can and we ask our European partners to help us transport grain to those who need it using grain corridors. This is a very important element in reducing crisis and the African leaders who have visited Ukraine could see that," he said.
"We are willing to invest in building two or three hubs in Africa if our partners are interested. We made this plan of ours known to South Africa and other nations and this is one of the reasons I would want to talk to African leaders to identify where pilot hubs can be started."
Zelensky, however, assured that despite the collapse of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, they now have new corridors that they use to ship grain out of Ukraine.
He noted that despite the route being longer, Ukraine was able to ship over 4 million tonnes of grain.
"In one month that this parallel corridor existed, we built it in partnership with Romania, Bulgaria and to other destinations including Türkiye, Ukraine transported 4 million tonnes in the first month of its existence," he said.
"Yes, it is longer, and there are challenges but we achieved the same amount. It shows that Ukraine is ready to deliver as much as it did. We are ready and willing to do that and Russia failed to block it."
Before the Black Sea Grain Initiative collapsed, Ukraine was able to ship over 32 million tonnes of grain.
The deal signed between Türkiye, Ukraine, and the UN only existed for one year, between July 22, 2022 and July 17, 2023. Türkiye and UN acted as intermediaries.
Russia had also signed a parallel agreement with Türkiye and UN, which facilitated the grain initiative.