Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said today that the agreement on grain exports from Ukrainian ports, signed in Istanbul on July 22, could be the basis for a "comprehensive ceasefire" to end the war in Ukraine.

Çavuşoğlu made this statement at a joint press conference with his Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Abdullah in Kuala Lumpur, Anadolu Agency reported.

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The Turkish foreign minister was speaking after the first Ukrainian grain ship to sail from Odessa passed an inspection in Istanbul and continued its journey to Lebanon.

Çavuşoğlu reminded that the validity period of the agreement is four months and can be extended if no objections are raised, BTA reported. 

After the inspection: The ship with Ukrainian grain continues its way through the Bosphorus to Lebanon

On July 22, Turkey, the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine signed a historic agreement to reopen three Ukrainian ports - Odesa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny - for grain that had been blocked for months because of the six-month-old Russian-Ukrainian war.

As part of the July 27 agreement, a Joint Coordination Center including representatives of Turkey, the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine operates in Istanbul to ensure the safe transportation by commercial ships of food products and fertilizers from the three key Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

Cavusoglu said at today's press conference that if the deal is extended without objection, "Russia will also be able to export its own grain and related products, as well as fertilizers."

He emphasized that the whole world needs these goods coming from Ukraine and Russia.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Mevlut Cavusoglu