Egypt plans for withdrawal from UN grain treaty

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Egypt, one of the world's largest importers of wheat, announced that it will withdraw from a decades-old United Nations (UN) grain agreement by the end of June, Reuters reported on March 9th.

The country's given notice for withdrawal from the multinational Grains Trade Convention (GTC), which is concerned with enhancing market transparency to increase trade cooperation, comes amid disturbance in the grain market due to the negative repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

"This came without prior information. Several delegations within the IGC are surprised and sad about the decision," Arnaud Petit, executive director of the International Grains Council, which administers the treaty, told Reuters.

He added that many of the treaty members would call on Egypt to reconsider its decision.

Egypt signed the international treaty covering the grain trade at its inception in 1995, and has been a member of the council that governs it since 1949.