Reason behind Egypt’s withdrawal from UN grain trade agreement

CAIRO – 13 March 2023: Egypt officially submitted a withdrawal request to the United Nations Grains Trade Convention (GTC) Secretary-General on 13 February 2023, according to the official website of the treaty.

 

According to Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Ali Moselhi, Egypt will officially withdraw from the GTC agreement by June 30 2023, due to the agreement’s insufficiency to provide Egypt with needed grain crops.

 

 

Based on article 29 of the agreement, any member is allowed to withdraw at the end of any fiscal year, under the condition of submitting a written request of withdrawal at least 90 days prior to the end of that fiscal year.

 

The decision was taken after an evaluation by the Ministries of Supply and Trade, which concluded that Egypt's membership does not represent an added value.

Moreover, the decision comes in light of Egypt’s continued attempts to save hard currency.

 

Deputy Director of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Strategic Studies (ECSS), Ali Eledrisi, stated that in 2022, grain prices witnessed an unprecedented increase due to the Russia-Ukraine war, and as a result, Egypt was heavily affected.

 

However, Egypt was able to overcome the grain crisis and secure its grain needs by cooperating with various countries, such as India, with little to no support from the convention.

 

According to Eledrisi, withdrawing from the agreement will not affect Egypt at all, as the country has proved in the last period that it can efficiently secure its grain needs using its political and diplomatic relations with most countries of the world

 

Egypt has been a member of the GTC agreement - the only international treaty covering grain trade - since its inception in 1995.

 

The agreement aims to promote international cooperation in all aspects of grain trade, encourage the expansion of international trade to secure the largest possible flow of the grain trade, contribute as far as possible to the stability of international grain markets, and to provide a forum for the exchange of information.