Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday called for a joint initiative between all parties to immediately unblock the millions of tons of wheat that are in the ports of southern Ukraine in order to avoid a world food crisis that would add to the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion.
Russia and Ukraine are among the top wheat producers globally, together accounting for more than 25% of exports. In addition to the effects that the war has had on the productive capacity in large areas of Ukraine, the blockade by the Russian army of millions of tons in the ports of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov is of great concern to the international community, because According to the Italian president, the reduction in supplies and the consequent increase in prices threatens to "have disastrous effects, in particular for some countries in Africa and the Middle East, where the danger of humanitarian, political and social crises is growing".
In a statement before the Senate to report on the situation in Ukraine, Draghi explained that in his recent meeting at the White House with the US president, Joe Biden, he demanded support for this joint initiative to unblock the ports, an urgent coordinated action that has also been mentioned by the German presidency of the G7.
"In other words, it is necessary that the ships that carry this wheat can pass and if the ports have been mined by the Ukrainian army, they must be demined for this purpose," Draghi stressed. "All parties involved should open a collaboration parenthesis at this time to avoid a humanitarian crisis that would kill millions and millions of people in the poorest parts of the world."
For all these reasons, Italy is organizing a Ministerial Dialogue with the Mediterranean countries for June 8, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), based in Rome, with the aim of outlining the necessary intervention measures in the face of the serious repercussions of the war on food security, in particular in the Mediterranean and African countries, major importers of Ukrainian wheat.
Draghi has also called for a ceasefire today, although he has not mentioned whether Italy will continue to send weapons to Ukraine, something that has generated strong tensions in the Executive because two of the parties that support him, the 5-Star Movement and the League They are against sending weapons. In fact, according to a recent poll, half of Italians think the country shouldn't.
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