Paris launches a series of initiatives to preserve access to fertilizers
France, associated with the European Commission and the African Union, has launched a series of initiatives to facilitate the access of the most vulnerable countries to fertilizers, threatened by the war in Ukraine, detailed the Elysée in a press releaseFriday.
These initiatives were decided on the sidelines of the 77e United Nations General Assembly, September 16, in New York. Between now and the G20 summit, to be held on November 15 and 16 in Bali, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) will map of the “export restrictions” as well as “fertilizer needs and production bottlenecks”.
This map will allow “to formulate concrete proposals for Heads of State and Government” of the G20.
The African online exchange platform ATEX will also pool requests from African countries in order to “reduce prices and buy African products first”.
Vulnerable countries will also be supported financially by a “Reallocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)” of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the “taking into account exchange rate risks” and “low-cost logistics solutions” through the World Food Program (WFP).
A meeting of fertilizer producers will also be organized in Paris ahead of the G20 summit in order to“intensify production as quickly as possible”.
The prices of synthetic fertilizers (based on nitrogen, phosphorus or potash) have tripled over the past year and a half, following supply disruptions from Russia, which was the world’s largest exporter, and soaring gas prices, essential for their production.
Russia, a world grain power, complains for its part that it cannot sell its production and its fertilizers because of Western sanctions affecting the financial and logistics sectors in particular.