site.btaBulgarian President Makes Video Address to International Conference on Grain from Ukraine Scheme

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev made a video address on Saturday to an international conference on the opening of the Grain from Ukraine humanitarian programme, Radev's press secretariat said. 

In the address Radev said that decisive concerted efforts of the world community are needed to tackle the growing insecurity in food supplies. Radev spoke about the negative consequences on the global food security as a result of the war in Ukraine: limited agricultural production, cut or problematic food supply chains and food trade, shortages and drastic price hikes of staple foods and of fertilizers. 

Radev said that the supply of food is a collective responsibility of the countries and the global community while meeting the pressing needs of the worst-hit needs to go hand in hand with the search for sustainable solutions. The President noted the efforts of the caretaker government in Bulgaria which managed to make possible the transportation of more than 200,000 t of grain from Ukraine along the Danube in the past months. 

Bulgaria welcomes the UN-supported initiative for facilitating the export of Ukrainian farm produce across the Black Sea and the Grain from Ukraine initiative unveiled on Saturday, Radev said. 

He also said that Bulgaria, as a friend and partner of Ukraine, where a considerable Bulgarian ethnic community lives, will continue to support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and the country's right to develop as a free and independent state. 

The international forum was attended in person or by video conference by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, heads of state and government of EU member states and other countries, and representatives of international organizations. 

The participants in the international conference adopted a joint statement.