During a visit to the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Odesa, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said there is still much to do to make sure that Ukrainian grain, as well as Russian-produced food and fertilizers, can reach global markets.
"It is time for massive and generous support so developing countries can purchase the food from this and other ports," he said on August 19.
He praised a UN-brokered agreement between Ukraine and Russia that has opened up Ukraine's Black Sea ports and enabled the first shipments of Ukrainian grain to leave the country since Russia's unprovoked invasion in February.
"This is an agreement between two parties locked in bitter conflict," he said. "It is unprecedented in scope and scale. But there is still a long way to go on many fronts."
Some 25 ships loaded with 630,000 tons of agricultural products have already been dispatched from Ukrainian ports since the deal was reached on July 22.
A further 10 cargo ships are being loaded with grain in Black Sea ports for shipment, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on August 19.
'We also have more than 40 applications for shipping to Ukrainian ports," Kubrakov said in a post on Facebook.
On August 18, Guterres met in Lviv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss ways of scaling up the exports.
Before the agreement, exports from Ukraine -- a leading global grain producer -- had been halted by a Russian naval blockade and the Ukrainian mining of the ports.
The halt in grain shipments contributed to a spike in global food prices and raised concerns about looming hunger in some African and Middle Eastern countries.