At an international conference on food security, Minister of Agriculture Kazys Starkevičius stressed the importance of cooperation and expressed his support for the host country, Ukraine, one of the world's largest producers and exporters of agricultural products.

The Minister stressed that now – in the face of crisis and conflict – it is time to cooperate, strengthen relations and stabilise the economies of the countries.

„Russia's actions in Ukraine threaten the whole world, especially the most vulnerable countries, and the looming political realities force us to adjust our plans to address the challenges of sustainable food systems, food security. Food security and the resilience of food systems are among the most important prerequisites for ensuring our security", said Minister Starkevičius.

Lithuania is actively contributing to finding possible solutions to secure new logistics routes for Ukrainian products. We support Ukraine's determined efforts to maintain the Black Sea corridor and contribute to global food security by exporting grain to African and Middle Eastern countries. Lithuania supports and participates in the "Grains from Ukraine" initiative.

„Our commitment to find urgent measures to transport wartime Ukrainian grain to the world food market is a significant contribution to sustaining the global food trade“," Minister Starkevičius underlined at the conference.

The Ministry of Agriculture has taken measures to tighten controls on imports of cereals from Russia and other high-risk countries. Enhanced quality and origin traceability measures are in place for cereals imported into Lithuania for food, feed and related products. Grain in transit through Lithuania will also be subject to stricter origin control requirements.

„Restricting the access of Russian grain to the Lithuanian market is a critical issue for our country and for the whole region. It is important not only because of its direct impact on grain prices on the market, but also because of the wider geopolitical context. The transit of Russian grain through Baltic ports has a negative impact on grain procurement prices, as Russian grain can compete on international markets on price, to the detriment of EU grain producers and exporters," said the Minister of Agriculture.

In order to find out whether Russian grain originates from the occupied territories of Ukraine, active cooperation is currently underway with the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in order to implement a grain testing scheme they are developing based on scientific isotopic provenance.

According to various sources, in 2023 Russia expropriated and exported around 5 million tonnes of grain from the occupied territories of Ukraine.

„We assure you that Lithuania, together with the international community, will continue to support the brave people of Ukraine. We stand firmly behind Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity," said the Minister, who also expressed Lithuania's support for the draft Joint Communiqué on food security.

The Communiqué, adopted by a large number of Member States at the Conference, affirms that food security is an integral part of the implementation of the peace formula, which will contribute to sustainable peace in Ukraine, the region and the world.

The international conference was attended by 122 representatives from countries around the world, as well as representatives from the United Nations Security Council, the European Commission and the Council of Europe.