Some nations are reportedly urging for exemptions on food exports from the country
Leading EU member states have been calling on Brussels to amend sanctions on Moscow to make a clearer exemption for supplies of Russian grain and fertilizer, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
According to an EU position paper seen by the FT, Germany, France and the Netherlands are among the countries urging the European Commission to change the sanctions limits. They argue the current rules are delaying vital shipments to poor countries.
The position paper, whose authors reportedly also includes Spain, Belgium, and Portugal, points out that “the current legal situation contributes to criticism that sanctions actually hinder trade in food and fertilizers.”
It stated that shipments get stuck in European ports because companies are worried about taking part in transactions with Russian firms. The paper added that financial institutions, insurers, transporters, and wholesalers are reluctant to deal in the export of Russian food and fertilizer, disrupting supply chains.
READ MORE: Moscow clarifies conditions for extending grain deal
According to the FT, the document also said that there was now an “undesirable” situation where the EU is stricter on agricultural transactions than the US and the UK, which “seems in contradiction with the general EU policy on food security.”
The outlet noted that some member states want to use the planned ninth package of anti-Russia sanctions as an opportunity for amendments addressing food and fertilizer supply.
https://www.rt.com/business/567883-eu-russia-sanctions-food/
Any moment now I am expecting John Cleese (a veteran of Monty Python) to jump out of the bushes and announce the creation of the Ministry of Silly Wars, with Donald Trump as the deranged leader. For you youngsters out there, Monty Python’s skit, The Ministry of Silly Walks, helped make the members of MP legends. I had to reference Monty Python because the line of bullshit the Trump administration is feeding the American people and the world about the amazing, obliterating US attack on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday morning, is more ridiculous that all of the silly walks pictured in the following video:
My hopes that Donald Trump would finally act like a responsible adult are dashed. He’s a dangerous buffoon. While the team around him are working frantically to maintain the fiction that Trump has a vision and is calling the shots on the foreign policy front, he is careening around the globe like an out-of-control cue ball on a billiards table. It started a week ago… first, he claimed...
Tuesday marks the third anniversary of the launch of the Fujian, China's first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults. Official media said China is about to enter a three-aircraft-carrier era, with the Fujian expected to enter service by 2025.
After the launch of the Fujian on June 17, 2022, it carried out its first sea trial from May 1 to 8 in 2024. Since then, the Fujian has completed multiple sea trials, accumulating more than 100 days of sea trial, China Central Television (CCTV) News reported on Tuesday.
Wei Dongxu, a Chinese military affairs commentator, said that the aircraft carrier Fujian has been making steady progress in sea trials, and is expected to be commissioned within this year, CCTV News reported.
With a full displacement of more than 80,000 tons, the Fujian is the world's first conventionally powered aircraft carrier to feature electromagnetic catapult technologies, according to CCTV News. The report noted that it will carry a wide variety of carrier-borne...
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China and Central Asian countries have explored and formed the China-Central Asia Spirit, which features mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, mutual assistance, and the pursuit of common modernization through high-quality development.
Xi made the remarks in his speech at the second China-Central Asia Summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana.
Xi said that the Chinese side has decided to establish three cooperation centers and a trade facilitation platform within the China-Central Asia cooperation mechanism.
When addressing the summit, Xi said these institutions include the China-Central Asia poverty reduction cooperation center, the China-Central Asia education exchange cooperation center, the China-Central Asia desertification control cooperation center, as well as the China-Central Asia trade facilitation cooperation....more below
