KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine is studying the possibility of opening a logistics hub in Egypt for supplies of Ukrainian agricultural products to the region, agriculture minister Vitaliy Koval said on Tuesday.
Ukraine, a global producer and exporter of grains, oilseeds and vegetable oils, has in recent months intensified efforts to penetrate more deeply into the North African market, especially after the fall of Syria’s Russian-backed leadership.
“On the instructions of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, we are exploring the possibility of creating a food hub in Egypt,” Koval, who is visiting Egypt, said on the Telegram messenger.
“Together with the Ambassador of Ukraine to Egypt, Mykola Nahornyi, we inspected the port infrastructure and locations where Ukrainian businesses can place their facilities – elevators, logistics centres, warehouses,” he added.
Zelenskiy said in December he had instructed his government to set up supply mechanisms to deliver together with international organisations and partners food to Syria in the aftermath of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.
He also said he was preparing to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria.
Ukraine has traditionally supplied its food to Egypt, and shipped 3.87 million metric tons of corn and 1.72 million tons of wheat to Egypt in the 2023/24 July-June season, according to UGA grain traderes union.
“Our task is for Ukrainian farmers not only to export raw materials, but also to use special economic zones to process them,” Koval said.
He said this would allow Ukrainian food to enter the Egyptian domestic market with flour, pasta and other products.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
