eu development ministers are meeting
today just to discuss how the war in
ukraine is impacting global food
security a ukraine is one of the world's
most important suppliers of grain and
sunflower oil russia's blockade of black
sea ports has halted shipments ukrainian
president zielenski has accused russia
of using food as a weapon with global
consequences
the colours of ukraine the country's
endless golden wheat fields are
reflected in its flag
but russia's invasion means some of
ukraine's rich farmland now looks like
this
ukraine has accused russia of
deliberately targeting its agriculture
sector tearing up fields planting
landmines and destroying equipment and
warehouses
in safer parts of the country farmers
have been tasked with planting extra
crops in a bid to make up for the losses
elsewhere
but the threat to food security goes far
beyond ukraine
the country is one of the world's
biggest exporters of food products like
wheat corn and sunflower oil
but russia has blocked ukraine's key
ports leaving it unable to ship vital
food supplies
without our agricultural exports dozens
of countries in different parts of the
world are already on the brink of food
shortages
and over time the situation could become
frankly speaking terrible
politicians are already discussing the
possible consequences of the sharp rise
in prices famine in african countries
asian countries
russia has blamed the situation on
western sanctions
but some experts suggest russia is
manipulating grain markets using wheat
as a bargaining chip to its own
advantage
as the world's number one wheat exporter
there are warnings russia could withhold
its own wheat exports for political gain
according to the world food programme
around four and a half million tons of
grain is stuck in silos at ukrainian
ports
it's particularly disastrous for
countries already suffering from food
shortages
yemen for example gets more than half of
its wheat from ukraine and russia
this uh
war the ukraine war has
is overlapping the impact is overlapping
with
a crisis that has already been unfolding
in several countries
the eu is now racing to work out
alternative routes across land to secure
supply chains
meanwhile the un is leading negotiations
to get shipping routes reopened and get
vital food supplies to where they're
desperately needed
and for more i'm joined now by dw's
brussels bureau chief alexandre von
neumann good morning alexandra the main
focus of today's summit is the threat to
food security how great is the concern
in brussels right now
i think we have to say that the european
union is very concerned not so much
about its own dependence on ukrainian
wheat or sunflower oil it's more about
what could be happening soon in the
neighboring countries or in the most
vulnerable countries in parts of africa
or in the middle east so there is a
major concern that we could see
mass hunger and famine if this crisis is
not going to be solved and
we just have to remember as we saw in
the report that ukraine is one of the
biggest exports of food the world food
program for instance that is feeding
more than 120 million people buys 50 of
its wheat from ukraine so the dimension
is huge and russia stands not only
accused of blocking ukrainian portsmouth
also and we saw in the report of
deliberately targeting ukrainian food
sector
the eu foreign policy chief joseph
burrell is chairing the meeting
what proposals is he likely to put
forward to tackle an issue of just such
magnitude
well the ukrainian commissioner has
already proposed to help ukraine
transport its weeds and other grains
on roads by road by river and by rail
and there are looking for alternative
routes but the task is huge and very
complex we have to keep in mind for
instance that there is a difference of
gauge of tracks if we are speaking about
railway ways of transporting wheat so
the weeds would need to be reloaded and
border crossings between ukraine and for
instance poland the neighboring
countries so uh the solution still needs
to be found to be honest how to deal
with this huge crisis looming
um the eu foreign ministers are also
meeting today in turin can you give us
an idea of what will be on the agenda
there
they will be meeting in a much broader
format we're talking here about the
council of europe and its members are
not only members of the european union
but also countries outside the block
like turkey for instance so ukraine is
of course uh front and center of the
agenda but i think this meeting is more
about exchanging views and proposals
uh on how to help ukraine
all right dw's alexander fundament in
brussels thank you
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miss orpilen you're attending a g7
development ministers meeting here in
berlin what is your main takeaway from
this we had very constructive a good
meeting and several
very timely topics we discussed on
i would say that the main message is
that
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even though
the ukrainian war or war in ukraine is
taking place in europe
the crisis is global
and that's why we cannot turn our back
to the rest of the world because we see
that the consequences of the war
are very very serious for instance in
the global south
are we turning the back on the global
south now
no we are not and that's very important
to tell also to our partners in the
global south
taking into account for instance food
security and food crisis which is a huge
challenge for instance in the uh horn of
africa or in the southern part of
sahel in
africa we are giving as the european
union and as a team europe so commission
and the member states over 1 billion
euros mainly humanitarian assistance to
those regions so that they can really
buy more food and they are able to feed
their citizens
but that's not the only uh action we are
taking we are also investing in the food
production capacities in africa
because africa imports 80 percent of the
food it uses so africa for instance as a
continent is very
dependent on the import and that's why
we also want to strengthen the capacity
of production capacity in africa and
and i'm personally front loading some of
our eu
developing cooperation financing so that
we can support food sustainable food
agri systems in our partner countries
you just mentioned the dependence of
several african countries when it comes
to imports it is believed that nearly 25
million tons of grains are in ukraine
what are you trying to do to get this
food out of the international markets
yeah
well of course we
also try to
to work with with ukraine so that we
could still export
the food which is still existing in in
ukraine
so this is the first target we are we
are working on
then the second one is that
we are working with the humanitarian
organizations in order to provide
humanitarian assistance
especially to the horn of africa but
also to to the sahel at the southern
part of sahel and also lake chat region
and then like i said uh it's always of
course important to
to
uh act rapidly and and
and look at the current crisis but i
think it's also at the same time
important to
to to have this kind of a midterm
perspective how would you define the
relationship between the european union
and africa is it a relationship on an
eye side on a level or is it still
europe telling africa how they should
produce
things how they should import how they
should export
i would define our partnership as equal
and mutual partnerships
so um
we definitely
mainly we share the same values
most of the african citizens they try
for democracy rule of law and also uh
respect of human rights
but at the same time uh africa also
shared the same challenges as as we are
are facing in terms of climate change
but also digitalization
and that's why we the european union
adopted
a new global gateway strategy
in uh in december uh where we wanted to
really support
green and digital transitions globally
but our main focus is of course in
africa you said that the relationship is
equally mutual do you think that your
african counterpart sees like that as
well there has been criticism that
usually when the eu is helping it's also
a lot of value based not with for
example chinese were also
increasing their influence in africa do
you think that there should be some way
approach or some mistakes that were made
by european union institution regarding
africa
i think it's quite clear that everything
the european union is is doing is based
on on the values we represent
because for me the european union is the
community of values
so that's why for instance this global
gateway strategy and all those
investments we are trying to
accelerate through the global gateway
strategy are very much linked to the
values
how i see the strategy it's a positive
offer to our partner countries uh in the
global south not only africa globally
really to to
accelerate uh investments in energy but
also to agriculture
transport digital
and also soft infrastructure like health
and education so we are you know
combining those investments to high
quality standards in terms of
environment and and also social
standards
and and also to our values so
i think um
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i think this global gateway strategy at
least the feedback i have received from
the global south is
the strategy is very much appreciated
you spoke about values and as many
western countries are trying to decrease
the dependence to russian oil they're
heading to other countries with dire
human rights records like venezuela like
iran like saudi arabia or qatar are you
concerned about this development
well
i think it's it's very understandable
that because of the war in ukraine we
really want to decrease our dependence
on the russian
energy
and fossil fuels
i think it's necessary really to create
new new partnerships also in terms of
energy
how i see the partnership is that if you
have a real
partnership equal partnership
then you can also raise
difficult topics to your discussions and
tables so of course i i personally hope
that even though we are creating new
contracts in terms of energy with
different partners globally uh we can
also you know despite that we can also
raise uh those
value uh value-based topics uh to those
in those discussions with them as well
do you think that should happen after
the partnership so first the business
the economy to see when it comes to
energy and then raise those topics or
make them a condition to go into a
partnership i think uh at least from my
own experience
i think you can do it
parallel so you can you can
have your own interest
you can also you know prom promote your
own strategic interest and this is of
course part of the global gateway we see
that also as a strategic interest of the
european union and the europe
but
on the same time you can also uh discuss
on values and and and where and what
other values the partnership is based on
so um i think you can do both
german development minister svenia
schultz accused russia of using in
hunger as a weapon do you agree with
that
unfortunately uh
one can really uh into have this kind of
interpretation
because uh
as we already discussed a little bit
earlier we see that there is a lot of
food in the storages in ukraine and
ukraine is not able to export that and
at the same time
people are starving for instance in
africa but also in the middle east in
some countries
because they are so dependent on on on
the food
import
so um
i think
my main message and uh
and and also thinking is that we should
try to end that war in ukraine as soon
as possible
i think um
i think that's
that's the the benefit of people in
ukraine of course because they are the
ones who are suffering the most but
that's also the benefit of the global
citizens in the global south because we
see that uh every day
of this war is causing more and more
suffer also uh in in the global assault
i'd like to ask you about g20 because it
is russia is not part of the g7 but is
part of the wider group of the g20 do
you think that that is a mistake as many
countries that are part of the g20 are
asking for russia to be excluded
well historically russia has been part
of the g20 and
russia has been part of the different
international organization as well
my uh my understanding is that
russia is probably going to participate
in the g20 meeting
we'll see that in the autumn
what kind of consequences it might cause
i think it's still something uh
different g20 members are discussing on
but my personal wish is that uh
hopefully we could end this war
uh sooner than later so that uh then we
could also be in the new new situation
but also relating to my own portfolio we
plan to have a g20 development ministers
meeting in in indonesia in september and
as far as as i'm informed also russia is
going to participate in it do you think
that's problematic
well um like i said my wish is that by
the september the war would be over so
that we are then in the new situation
and uh and then the question is that how
will the world look like after the war
my personal wish is that
i
don't want to see the world to be
divided to the west against the rest and
i think this is russia's approach russia
really tried to
um
spread this information in africa
and i think we have to be very clear in
our own narrative that for instance the
food crisis in in africa is not because
of our sanction it's because of the
russians aggression
uh in in ukraine so
uh they started this war and and now we
see the consequences of that you
mentioned the end of the war in ukraine
do you think that after that russia
could once again be considered a partner
for the european union
i think we we still have a long way to
go
in order to see that day
but
i personally like i said i believe in in
multilateralism i believe in the
rule-based order i think that's also the
benefit of the european union
i uh
i would like to see this multiple world
where we don't only have like two or
three superpowers competing each other
and from that perspective of course i
would really like to see a multilateral
system where
different
superpowers and actors of the world can
also be part of but like i said uh we
still have a long way to go in order to
see that day because now of course we
are in the middle of the war
and the main message is that russia has
to end this war mr pilanin thank you
very much for this interview thank you
and dunk