ANKARA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Defense Minister on Monday said his country would "be glad" to help the shipments of foodstuff and fertilizers waiting at Russian ports in the Black Sea.
"There are also food and various chemicals in Russia's ports. The transfer of these is a separate issue apart from our work on Ukrainian grains. But if we can make a contribution, we would be pleased to do so as well," Hulusi Akar told the semi-official Anadolu Agency.
Meanwhile, the first cargo ship carrying 26,000 tons of corn bound for the port of Tripoli in Lebanon left the Ukrainian port of Odesa on Monday under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement on the safe resumption of grain exports via the Black Sea.
Akar said this ship will be "anchored off" the coast of Istanbul around 3:00 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Tuesday for a joint inspection as required for all grain shipments leaving the three Ukrainian ports under the deal.
The deal was signed on July 22 respectively by Russia and Ukraine with Türkiye under the UN auspices would allow significant volumes of food and fertilizer exports from three key Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, namely Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny.
As part of the deal, Türkiye last week set up a joint coordination center in Istanbul with representatives from Ukraine and Russia to monitor the grain shipment process.
Ankara, which has good relations with both Kiev and Moscow, has actively mediated between the two conflicting sides. ■
