The announcement of the withdrawal of the world's largest wheat importer from the agreement concluded in 1995 under the aegis of the UN comes in a context of disruption of grain markets, due to the negative repercussions of the war in Ukraine.
Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, has announced its intention to withdraw by the end of June 2023 from the International Grains Agreement concluded in 1995 under the aegis of the United Nations, Reuters reported on 9 March, quoting an International Grains Council (IGC) executive.
“The notification of Egypt’s withdrawal from the International Grains Agreement took place without prior information. Several delegations within the CIC are surprised and saddened by this decision,” Arnaud Petit, executive director of the International Grains Council, an intergovernmental organization that administers the international agreement that entered into force on July 1, 1995, told Reuters.
Arnaud Petit also indicated that many member countries of the agreement would ask Egypt to reconsider its decision, without specifying the reasons for the withdrawal of the most populous country in the Arab world.
The International Grains Agreement comprises two separate legal instruments: the Grains Trade Convention and the Food Aid Convention.
The Grains Trade Convention provides for information sharing, analysis and consultations on grain market and policy developments. Its main objective is to promote international cooperation in all aspects of grain trade, to ensure that this trade is carried out as freely as possible, and to contribute to the stability of international grain markets.
Under the Food Aid Convention, donor countries undertake to provide specified amounts of food aid each year to developing countries in the form of cereals fit for human consumption or funds. This convention takes up the objective set by the World Food Conference, namely to provide developing countries with food aid of at least 10 million tonnes of cereals each year.
Egypt’s withdrawal from the agreement comes against a backdrop of disrupted grain markets, due to the negative repercussions of the war in Ukraine.
An agreement negotiated last summer under the aegis of the UN has made it possible to remove more than 20 million tonnes of cereals from Ukrainian ports since August 1, 2022, thus helping to relieve importing states, but doubts hang over the renewal of this historic agreement, which will expire on March 18.
Moscow clarified on March 9 that the grain deal was only half-implemented, noting that sanctions imposed on the payments, logistics and insurance sectors still prevent it from exporting its own grain. and fertilizer.
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