EU Statement – UN General Assembly 5th Committee: Global Food Insecurity revised estimates
The European Union and its Member States welcome the swift conclusion of this agenda item and the General Assembly’s agreement to fund the entire proposal of the Secretary General.
The Trade Facilitation Initiative and the Black Sea Grain Initiative are a powerful response to rising risks of food insecurity compounded by the war against Ukraine. Grain, foodstuffs and fertilizers from Russia and the Ukraine are entering the world market again. We reiterate our full support to their implementation.
We would like to commend the role of Türkiye.
We would also like to express our appreciation to the Secretary-General for his efforts in mitigating global food insecurity and its humanitarian impacts. Through his engagement, the United Nations could play a fundamental role in reducing and stabilizing food prices around the world and in alleviating the global food shortage.
We are compelled, however, to make the following remarks in response to the misleading and erroneous accusations during the formal meeting of the Fifth Committee on 10 October.
The European Union is an active partner in the Black Sea Grain initiative: together BSGI and the European Union solidarity lanes have enabled 18 million tons of Ukrainian grain to access the market, in turn helping to decrease global prices for commodities almost at pre-war levels, to the benefit of developing countries.
The European Union is an exporting powerhouse of cereals: the European Union is far from being the main recipient of cargoes leaving Ukrainian ports; EU destinations represent less than 19% of the total volumes of wheat, and a substantial part of the grain supplies shipped to Europe only transits through European ports and is being re-exported outside the European Union to developing countries. In addition, between March and June 2022, the European Union exported 14 million tons of cereals to third countries, increasing its cereal net exports to the world by around 400,000 tons when compared to last year. (Egypt, Algeria, Morocco or Nigeria and other countries affected by the consequences of Russia’s aggression of Ukraine on food security are among the top recipients of EU cereal exports).
The European Union aims to facilitate food supplies, fertilizers, and agricultural products with a view to fostering food security worldwide: the European Union sanctions specifically exclude these products and the European Union Member States ensure smooth transport of Ukrainian agricultural products through their territories to the European ports and are looking for solutions to specific cases of overcompliance. Russia, on the contrary, was temporarily banning its exports of ammonium nitrates, demonstrating their intention to weaponize fertilizers and create global shortages. Exports of fertilisers by Russia have returned to historic levels, after they lifted the ban.