Russia and Ukraine sign grain agreement in Istanbul

In the afternoon of July 22 in Istanbul, Russia and Ukraine will sign the agreement proposed by the UN to ease the export of grain from the besieged Black Sea ports of Ukraine, the Turkish presidency announced, as quoted by TASS. In addition to unblocking grain exports from Ukraine, the agreement is expected to allow the export of grain and fertilizers from Russia. It envisages the creation of a coordination center for grain supplies in Istanbul with the participation of representatives of the UN, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine. It is expected that the "grain corridor" will be operational within days and exports will start from three Ukrainian ports - "Odessa", "Yuzhen" and "Chernomorsk".

On July 18, Turkey's Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar said that an agreement in principle had been reached on the transportation of agricultural produce across the Black Sea and efforts to sign such a document were ongoing, the Turkish Radio and Television reported.

EU has opened accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia

Albania and North Macedonia start EU accession talks, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in Brussels at the first intergovernmental conference led by the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU. "This is a historic moment," she pointed out. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama thanked Ursula von der Leyen, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron and pointed out that without their efforts the two Balkan countries would not have progressed so much on their EU path. The Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski said that his country had been waiting for this day for 17 years. "The door has opened for our Macedonian language to become one of the official languages in the EU," he said. Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the first agreement between the EU and North Macedonia, which is on cooperation with "Frontex," will be translated into Macedonian.

The European Commission is about to review the legislation of the two Balkan countries regarding their compliance with European legislation. There will be negotiations on 33 chapters and the closing of each of them will require the unanimous consent of all EU Member States. This allows member countries to impose a veto in case of non-compliance with the commitments made by Skopje and Tirana, Dnevnik writes.

Athens asks Belgrade for more information about cargo of AN-12 that crashed in Greece

An-12 cargo plane owned by a Ukrainian company carrying mines from Serbia to Bangladesh crashed near Kavala in the late hours of July 16. On the orders of Foreign Minister Nikolaos Dendias, the ambassador of Athens in Belgrade protested to the Serbian authorities that they did not provide detailed information about the cargo in the plane and asked for a complete list of the transported products, BNR correspondent Katia Peeva reported from Greece. According to the Greek Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian pilot's last words before the plane exploded were about a burning engine and many technical problems. According to military experts, the pilots had the opportunity to land the machine on the island of Limnos but refused and changed the flight to Kavala. During the inspections carried out at the crash site, no radiation above the norms was detected. The area will remain closed for at least another month until all checks are completed.

Romania will support the businesses of citizens returning from abroad

In Romania, the third edition of the Start-Up Nation program, which aims at providing financial support to young entrepreneurs, has been launched. The new thing this time is that funds under the program will also be granted to Romanians living abroad, Radio Romania reported. The maximum amount of aid for projects creating one job will be around 20,000 euros, and for two jobs - around 40,000 euros. The condition is that the recipients of the funds themselves provide not less than 5% of the amount.

Compiled by: Miglena Ivanova

English: Alexander Markov