CAIRO — Egypt is pinning high hopes on the Russian-Ukrainian deal sponsored by Turkey and the United Nations on July 22, to unblock Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports after nearly five months of fighting that halted exports. Cairo hopes the landmark deal would allow it to resume its wheat imports. The deal will allow shipments held up in Ukrainian ports to head to various countries around the world, including Egypt.

In a televised statement to Sada al-Balad channel July 27, Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali al-Moselhi described the deal as a “glimmer of hope.” 

He said that a vessel loaded with 63,000 tons of wheat expected by Egypt has been docked at a Ukrainian port since day three of the Russian war on Ukraine, noting that the new agreement would allow releasing the shipment.

Moselhi continued, “This shipment will move from Ukraine to Egypt through the safe route from the Black Sea ports to the Bosporus and then to the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was contacted to speed up the exit of that shipment from Ukraine.”