Русский
Russian fertilizer giant Uralchem has completed the delivery of 30,000 metric tons of potash to Bangladesh as a humanitarian gesture, the company announced on Monday (January 19). The donation was conducted under the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).
This is the company’s seventh donation in a series of humanitarian deliveries to developing countries since 2022. Uralchem has donated over 220,000 tons of mineral fertilizer to nations facing acute hunger, free of charge.
Most of these consignments were shipped on vessels chartered by the WFP from European Union ports and warehouses to countries such as Malawi, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and now Bangladesh. The fertilizer shipped to Dhaka had been “stored in Latvia,” the company noted in its statement.
Over 400,000 metric tons of Russian fertilizer have remained held up in several European ports, including Latvia and Estonia, since 2022, when these countries imposed sanctions against Russia and prevented the shipments from leaving.
The goods were supposed to be released under a Russia-UN agreement on agricultural exports signed in Istanbul in July 2022 under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, however, the European sides prevaricated, ultimately resulting in the grain deal collapsing in 2023 after Moscow accused Western powers of failing to uphold their side of the agreement, and particularly on Russian fertilizer and food exports. It has taken nearly four years to have the Europeans eventually agree to free the humanitarian cargo. There had been calls to either use it for Europe’s own needs or send it to Ukraine.
Uralchem CEO Dmitry Konyaev said “This humanitarian consignment of potash has arrived in Bangladesh and will now be used to help local farmers reap fruitful harvests.”
The initiative is in sync with the UN Sustainable Development Goal to end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
Bangladesh is a BRICS partner nation.
Further Reading
