Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that a special representative for Africa will appear in Ukraine
A special representative for Africa will appear in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this during a video conference speech at a meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly of the African Union. – In the near future, a special representative of Ukraine for Africa will also start working. I want us to understand each other and interact without intermediaries for the sake of our common interests. And the fact that there are such interests is quite obvious after February 24th. For the stability of your countries depends on stability in Ukraine and in our region,” the head of state said. Zelensky also said that on his behalf, the first ever tour of the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to African countries is being prepared. – On my instructions, the first regional tour of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to the states of Sub-Saharan Africa is being prepared in the history of our state. Of course, the inter-parliamentary dialogue should also develop. To do this, I initiate visits to African countries by representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the President noted. Vladimir Zelensky invited the leaders of African countries to visit Ukraine now to restore relations at the bilateral level and start preparing the political and economic conference “Ukraine – Africa.” The President said that Ukraine is trying to build a new logistics of food supplies due to the fact that Russia has blocked seaports, but these are smaller volumes and higher prices. – We have more than 25 million tons of grain in the elevators, they are expected by traditional consumers of Ukrainian products. We are setting up exports by rail and through the ports of neighboring countries so that last year's harvest and this year's harvest can reach consumers. But through new routes it is possible to send a much smaller volume and for a longer time. As a result, these are much more expensive deliveries. We are conducting complex, multi-level negotiations to unblock Ukrainian ports, but there is no progress yet, Zelensky said. The Ukrainian leader stated that Africa was held hostage by Russia, which attacked Ukraine. – This war may seem to someone very far from your countries. But food prices, which are rising catastrophically, have already brought it to millions of African families. As well as before families in Asia and Latin America. It is estimated that 400 million people depend on our food exports. If not for the Russian war against Ukraine, our farmers and agricultural companies would have been able to provide a record harvest this year. This situation demonstrates how connected everything is in the world. One war in Europe … has caused the threat of famine to grow everywhere, he concluded. Vladimir Zelensky is sure that Russia needs this crisis to put pressure on countries that have imposed sanctions against it.
