UN Official: Grain Deal Has No Guarantee Clause for US, EU to Facilitate Russian Exports

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States and the European Union have not provided any guarantees with respect to Russian food or fertilizer exports, the grain agreement is based on goodwill and trust alone, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary General Rebecca Grynspan said.

"Oh no, this is a trust building exercise. There is no guarantee, there is only an effort in goodwill and commitment from all the parties to make this work. But we have enough signs that this is what everybody wants," Grynspan said when asked whether the United States and the European Union provided any guarantees not to hinder Russian food and fertilizer exports.

She also said that the Istanbul grain deal will drive the price of insurance and licensing premiums to go down.

"The agreements that have been signed today are a good sign for those premiums to go down, and for the trade facilitation to pick up, yes, and we expect that to happen," Grynspan said.

The United Nations will continue to stay engaged with partners in the European Union, the United States and Russia to understand any obstacles to grain exports in the wake of the deal with Ukraine, Rebecca Grynspan added.

"We will continue to be engaged. And obviously we will be talking to our partners in the rest of the world, in the EU, in the US and we will continue to talk to our Russian counterparts to understand what are the problems and obstacles that they're facing in terms of food and fertilizers and raw materials for fertilizers export," Grynspan said.

UN Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths confirmed to Sputnik that the grain deal does not include any enforcement mechanism.

"There's no enforcement mechanism. It's a voluntary agreement. It's not a court of law. The enforcement if you like, comes from the publicity that would be made by the JCC [Joint Coordination Center] about the misfeasance of one or other of the parties or whatever happened," Griffiths said. "So basically there will be just diplomatic efforts not some kind of enforcement mechanism."

The Joint Coordination Center (JCC) overseeing the grain agreement signed in Istanbul has yet to agree on a buffer zone distance for the safe passage of vessels carrying exports, Griffiths also said.

"...This is one of the issues the JCC will want to decide when they establish themselves and in the next couple of days. They have a whole set of procedures that they'll have to develop to decide what is a sufficient buffer zone. What's the safe distance - is it a mile or five miles on each side of the line or is it more," UN Under-Secretary-General said.

On Friday, the United Nations-brokered deal on food exports from Ukraine was signed by representatives from Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Nations. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that exports of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports may start in the next few days. According to the document, to prevent any provocations and incidents, no military ships, aircraft, or unmanned aerial vehicles may approach the humanitarian corridor created for safe passage of vessels with grain.