Moscow - The question of creating the Black Sea grain pool, which would mostly include Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, has currently been removed from the agenda, Russian Grain Union President Arkady Zlochevsky said at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday, Sep. 17.
‘The issue has currently been removed from the agenda. It is not being discussed and a working group is not coming together,’ he said, adding that the pool was not relevant without Ukraine.
‘We are in a Customs Union with Kazakhstan. Everything is unified except for taxation and market regulation instruments,’ Zlochevsky said.
He added that as concerns cooperation in the Black Sea basin, it was possible to reach agreements with other countries, in particular Bulgaria and Romania, ‘but this is pointless without Ukraine.’
The question of creating the Black Sea grain pool, which assumed cooperation between three countries on the world grain market, was first brought up at the 2009 World Grain Forum. This topic was then discussed during numerous talks, and a special working group was creating. A concrete decision was not made, however.
Grain from Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine is typically considered Black Sea grain on the world market.
