After months of negotiation, the UN helped broker a deal between Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey that enabled the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea. In just one month of operation, this deal has facilitated over 100 ships safely crossing the Black Sea, shipping over 2 million metric tons of agricultural exports to global markets. The deal is a marked success already and has concretely improved global food security, lowering prices, stabilizing markets, and increasing availability.
In the coming weeks and months, we expect to see even greater benefits for global food security from the Initiative as commercial shipping in the Black Sea continues to scale up. Ambassador Jim O’Brien is the head of the Office of Sanctions Coordination since April 2022. Ambassador O’Brien has decades of foreign policy experience, having held senior position at the Department and the private sector.
The Office of Sanctions Coordination oversees work on sanctions and further strengthens cooperation with allies and partners in the use of this critical tool. It promotes accountability for corruption and human rights abuse and deters and disrupts activities that threaten U.S. national security.
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