Berlin, Nov. 18, (dpa/GNA) - The German government is financing the shipment of a Ukrainian wheat donation to Ethiopia with $14 million, Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir said to the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe on Thursday.
The grain donated by the government in Kiev could feed 1.6 million people in the country for an entire month, according to the news report. This deserves “the greatest respect” and therefore also Germany’s support, Özdemir said.
The 25,000 tons of wheat are to be transported from the port of Odessa to Ethiopia via the United Nations World Food Programme, the papers reported. Ukraine is the world’s fourth largest grain exporter, but has had difficulty shipping grain out of the country since the Russian war began.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday that the cargo ship Nord Vind carrying the grain donation had left the port of Odessa the previous day and would cross the Black Sea bound for Istanbul.
In Turkey, the cargo will be inspected in accordance with the so-called grain agreement concluded in July between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations before it leaves for Djibouti. There, the grain will be reloaded and transported overland.
The money provided by Germany covers both the costs of transporting the grain from Ukraine via Djibouti to Ethiopia and the costs of distributing the wheat to hungry people throughout the country, the WFP added.
GNA