Indonesia leader targets food crisis during Russia-Ukraine peace mission

Indonesian President Joko Widodo attends a joint information briefing with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as Russia’s assault on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 29, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Provider/Handout via REUTERS

July 1 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s president finished a trip to Ukraine and Russia expressing he hoped for progressreintegrating world wide meals and fertiliser supply strains disrupted by the conflict, and presented to be a diplomatic bridge involving the two nations.

President Joko Widodo, who is the G20 president this year, was speaking at a news meeting alongside his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin right after a bilateral conference in Moscow on Thursday.

His trip followed a stop by to Kyiv on Wednesday where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

“I really appreciate President Putin who explained before that he will offer protection assurance for foodstuff and fertiliser supplies from equally Russia and Ukraine. This is great information,” reported the Indonesian president, who is commonly known as Jokowi.

“For the sake of humanity, I also aid the United Nations’ attempts to reintegrate Russian foods and fertiliser commodities and Ukrainian food stuff commodities to re-enter the environment supply chain,” he said.

Jokowi said he experienced urged leaders of the G7 for the duration of a conference he attended in Germany this 7 days to make sure sanctions on Russia did not have an effect on food items and fertiliser materials.

The war in Ukraine has prompted big disruptions to international trade, with the selling prices of grain and wheat soaring amid a blockade of Ukrainian seaports and sanctions on Russian commodities this kind of as oil, gas and fertiliser.

Speaking along with Jokowi in Moscow, President Putin denied Russia was blocking Ukrainian grain exports.

“The Ukrainian military has mined the strategies to their ports,” he said, “No 1 stops them from clearing all those mines and we promise the protection of shipping grain out of there.”

As G20 president this yr, Jokowi has sought to patch up divisions in the team exposed by the war in Ukraineand threats to boycott the summit if Russia attended, as perfectly as leveraging his country’s non-aligned situation to drive for peace. browse far more

On Thursday, he reported he experienced conveyed a information from Zelenskiy to Putin, and claimed Indonesia remained prepared to be a “conversation bridge” among the two leaders. He did not say what was in the concept.

Individually, Indonesian Overseas Minister Retno Marsudi stated she had held telephone phone calls with U.N. Secretary-Normal Antonio Guterres, and the head of the International Committee of the Purple Cross, between other individuals, about the meals crisis and achievable means to re-integrate Ukraine and Russia into the world-wide foodstuff chain.

Reporting by Gayatri Suroyo in Jakarta Writing by Martin Petty and Kate Lamb Editing by Ed Davies

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