Excluding Russia from grain deal talks will not be sustainable, Erdogan says

Russia is willing to send free grain to poorer countries, which Turkey favours, he told reporters, adding that Qatar had also agreed Erdogan said he was not "hopeless" about reviving the grain deal.

Any initiative to revive the Black Sea grain deal that isolates Russia is not likely to be sustainable, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in a press briefing after the conclusion of the G20 summit in New Delhi on Sunday. Russia quit the deal in July, a year after it was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, complaining that its own food and fertiliser exports faced obstacles and insufficient Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need.

Russia, Ukraine and Turkey are going to continue to discuss the grain deal, Erdogan added. Russia is willing to send free grain to poorer countries, which Turkey favours, he told reporters, adding that Qatar had also agreed

Erdogan said he was not "hopeless" about reviving the grain deal. The Turkish president also held talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the

sidelines of the G20 summit regarding efforts to revive the deal, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, without giving further details.