From 12 to 17 November, Special Representative of Ukraine for the Middle East and Africa Maksym Subkh paid a working visit to New York.
During his stay in the USA, the Ukrainian diplomat held talks with UN Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East Khaled Mohamed Khyari, Assistant UN Secretary-General for Africa Marta Pobe, Permanent Observer of the African Union to the UN Fatima Mohamed, Chief of Staff of the President of the UN General Assembly Kolen Kelapile, Special Advisor of the Permanent Mission of the United States to the United Nations Ambassador Mary Leonard. The Special Representative had also bilateral meetings with a number of ambassadors of Arab and African countries.
Maksym Subkh informed the interlocutors in detail about the tragic consequences of the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine, in particular in the context of ensuring food security of the African countries. In this regard, he emphasized the importance of consolidating international efforts with the aim of further systematic implementation of the initiative of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy "Grain from Ukraine".
The Special Representative drew the attention of the interlocutors to the process of implementing the provisions of the Ukrainian "Peace Formula", aimed at establishing a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace in Ukraine.
The focus of attention during the talks with the assistants of the UN Secretary General for the Middle East and Africa was the current political, security and humanitarian situation in the Middle East and the African continent.
In addition, Maxim Subkh took part in the meeting of the Third Committee of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly during the consideration of the draft resolution "Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol".
An important part of the program of the Special Representative’s visit to New York was his participation as a speaker in the event "Ninetieth Anniversary of Holodomor 1932 – 1933: The Weaponization of Food, Then and Now, and Ensuring the Right to Food for All", organized by the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN.
During the said commemorative event, Maksym Subkh emphasized that by blocking food supplies from the Black Sea region to other countries and destroying Ukrainian grain terminals, including port infrastructure, Russia aims to put the world's most vulnerable countries on the brink of starvation and extinction. He also emphasized that despite the destructive actions of the Russian Federation, our state remains a reliable guarantor of global food security. In this context, the Ukrainian diplomat highlighted the need to make maximum efforts to restore the supply chains of grain and agricultural products to the African and Asian countries in order to save millions of human lives around the world.
Within the framework of his visit to New York, the Special Representative of Ukraine gave extensive interviews to the multimedia news company "PassBlue" and to the National News Agency of Ukraine "Ukrinform".