UN General Assembly
2022

Weaponizing access to food and restricting it around the world is unacceptable. In order to support the Ukrainian economy and help manage the global food crisis, Romania has acted in a responsible way by facilitating the export of more than 4 million tons of Ukrainian grain, which represents 60 per cent of the grain exported by Ukraine, through our ports on the Danube and the Black Sea since the beginning of the crisis. We also commend the role of the Secretary-General in reaching the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is, as he symbolically put it, a beacon of hope in a world that truly needs it. Romania has long argued for keeping the so-called protracted or frozen conflicts high on our agenda and for focusing on how to solve them. The war against Ukraine has taught us that, in such contexts, the absence of war does not mean peace. Protracted conflicts, such as those in the Black Sea region, need to be addressed without delay.