OREANDA-NEWS  The UN is looking for creative ways to accelerate the export of food and fertilizers from Russia, the representative of the Secretary General of the organization Farhan Haq said on Monday.

"Our colleague Rebecca Greenspan (Secretary General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development - IF) is in contact with many parties, including European countries, to find creative ways that will speed up the export of food and fertilizers from the Russian Federation," Haq said at a briefing, answering a question about the idea of connecting a subsidiary bank Rosselkhoznadzor to the SWIFT system.

Earlier on Monday, the Financial Times, citing sources, reported that the Russian Federation and the EU are discussing the idea of allocating a "daughter" from the Rosselkhoznadzor with access to SWIFT to save the "grain deal". The newspaper noted that this option is regarded as "the best of the worst."

The "grain deal" was concluded in Istanbul on July 22, 2022. With the participation of the UN, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, two documents were signed - on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain from three Ukrainian ports (Chernomorsk, Odessa and Yuzhny) and on the removal of barriers to the export of Russian food and fertilizers. The initiative was extended in November 2022 for 120 days, until March, then twice more - for two months (at the moment it is valid until July 17). At the end of May, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Black Sea Initiative would have to look for alternatives if the Rosselkhoznadzor was not connected to SWIFT and there was no progress on the implementation of other "systemic" problems blocking Russian agricultural exports.