The Black Sea Grain Initiative will function for another two months, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said on Wednesday.

"Through the efforts of our country, the support of our Russian friends and the contribution of our Ukrainian friends, a decision was made to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative for another two months," he said on Twitter on Wednesday.

"We will continue our efforts to ensure that all terms of the agreement are met and continued into the next period. In addition, our Russian friends have stated that they will not interfere with the exit of Turkish ships from the ports of Mykolaiv and Olvia. We are grateful to them for this," the President of Turkey also said.

"We hope that we will see days when the war between Russia and Ukraine ends first with a permanent ceasefire and then with peace. I would like to express my gratitude to Russian President Mr. Putin for his sincere support of our efforts in this process. I would also like to thank President of Ukraine, Mr. Zelenskyy, for his constructive cooperation. I would also like to thank Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Guterres, for his efforts in this process," he said.

As reported, the Black Sea Grain Initiative was concluded in Istanbul on July 22, 2022 with the participation of the UN, Ukraine, Turkey and Russia. Its essence is to create a corridor for the export of grain from three Ukrainian ports: Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdenny in the context of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The initiative was concluded for 120 days and it was extended twice, the last time on March 18. However, if Ukraine claims that it was extended for 120 days, then Russia claims that it was only 60 days until May 18, and insisted on unblocking the operation of Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline and lifting all sanctions on the trade in Russian agricultural products and fertilizers.