In 2022, the war in Ukraine sent shock waves throughout the global economy, in particular through trade disruptions of food and fertilizers from two of the world’s main breadbaskets, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. This left millions of people in developing and least developed countries at the frontline of a cost of living and food crisis.
In response to it, the United Nations Secretary-General established a Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance in the UN Secretariat.
The Group’s work on the food aspect of the global crisis helped lead to the signing of two agreements in July 2022 in Istanbul.
One is the Black Sea Initiative (BSI), signed by the Russian Federation, Türkiye, Ukraine, and witnessed by the UN to allow the safe export of grain and other foodstuff from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea.
The other agreement is the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Russian Federation and the Secretariat of the United Nations on facilitating unimpeded access of food and fertilizer products originating in the Russian Federation to global markets.
Together, these agreements helped resume key trading routes and bring down global food prices. Following the termination of the BSI in July 2023, the United Nations remains committed to support continued exports from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
The United Nations has established a dedicated Task Team hosted at UNCTAD (UN Task Team) to follow up on the implementation of the MoU.
The current sanctions regimes include exemptions related to food and fertilizer trade from the Russian Federation to ensure global food security, and over the past two years the U.S., EU and UK sanctions authorities have issued important policy clarifications to realize this commitment.
The UN Task Team is working closely with relevant authorities to further clarify and fully realize the food and fertilizer exemptions more effectively with the ultimate goal of reducing food and fertilizer prices, reducing transaction costs, stabilizing markets and enhancing global food security.
Please see below a list of key sanctions guidance: