MOSCOW, March 25 Special Representative of Ukraine for the Middle East and Africa Maxim Subkh said that Oman offers Ukraine to open a grain hub on its territory.
«As for investments, during my visit, Oman offered Ukraine to seriously consider the issue of creating a Ukrainian grain or food-grain hub on the territory of the Sultanate,» he said in an interview with Ukrinform.
According to Subh, thanks to this, Ukraine can gain access to «one of the most modern logistics hubs, which operates, in fact, in the Indian Ocean.» The diplomat also said that Egypt also expressed interest in discussing the possibility of creating such a logistics center on its territory.
Earlier in March, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal announced plans to purchase an additional 125,000 tons of wheat or corn for transfer to African countries. At the same time, according to the Italian Association of Agricultural Producers Coldiretti, only 55% of the agricultural products that were exported from Ukrainian ports under the grain deal were delivered to the developing countries of North Africa and Asia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out in September that the West exports most of the Ukrainian grain to their own states, and not to needy countries in Africa.
On Thursday, the Kremlin press service reported that Vladimir Putin and the Sultan of Oman, Haytham bin Tarek Al Said, in the first telephone conversation since the establishment of diplomatic relations, discussed the expansion of economic cooperation and the implementation of joint projects, including in the transport and logistics sector .