Lebanon receives 1st ship of Ukrainian grain under Istanbul deal

TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AA) – Lebanon’s first grain ship departing from Ukraine under the historic Istanbul grain export deal arrived at Tripoli port in northern Lebanon on Monday.

Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Ostosh said Ukraine seeks to prevent an entire food crisis despite the negative impact of the Russian war on the country.

He said that approximately 1.6 million tons of grain products have been exported from Ukrainian ports since the Istanbul agreement.

The ambassador noted that 220 ships had arrived at Odessa Port to transfer a total of 500 million tons of grain, mostly to the Middle East and African countries.

Noting that 325,000 tons of wheat were imported by Lebanon in the first seven months of this year, Ostosh said that 210,000 tons of grain exports were from Ukraine.

Tripoli Port chairman Ahmed Tamer, for his part, said that Ukraine stood by Lebanon and exported grains to the Arab state despite the difficulties the country was going through.

In July, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine had signed an agreement to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports after they were paused when the Russia-Ukraine war began in February.

A Joint Coordination Center with officials from the three countries and the UN was set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.

Lebanon, which is going through its worst economic crisis, has been facing severe food shortages since the onset of the Ukraine war. The restoration of grain supply is therefore a hope-giving development.