"We have a reason to believe that there is interest [of Russia and Ukraine] for that to happen. I cannot share with you any other specifics of something that has not happened yet. But we are optimistic that this is being discussed," Grynspan told a press conference in Geneva.
The secretary general also noted that ammonia exports were included in the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the memorandum of understanding between Russia and the UN, both signed in July 2022.
"So not necessarily a new has to be signed for the ammonia pipeline being able to start functioning again. There are elements of that agreement that have to happen between the two countries... - Russia and Ukraine," Grynspan noted.
The UN official also touched upon the issue of Russian fertilizers that are now blocked in EU ports, saying that the first shipment of Russian fertilizers would be sent from the Netherlands to Malawi via Mozambique on November 21.
At the same time, the UNCTAD head stated that shipments of these fertilizers would soon be expanded to other African nations in need, adding that there were now over 300,000 tonnes of fertilizers blocked in EU ports.
"We hope that the next destination of the fertilizers will be West Africa, that has been very affected by affordability crisis of fertilizers. So the next destination is West Africa," Grynspan said, adding that Russian fertilizer producers Uralchem and Uralkali as well as the World Bank and French authorities were playing an important role in implementing these shipments.
The grain deal, originally scheduled to expire on November 19, was renewed for another 120 days on Wednesday. It is part of a UN- and Turkey-brokered package agreement that unblocks exports of Ukrainian and Russian grain and fertilizers in the Black Sea. Some Western media have reported that the deal did not cover exports of Russian ammonia via the Tolyatti-Odesa pipeline, shut down since the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine on February 24.