UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday welcomed the official inauguration of the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul as "a platform to help operationalize the Black Sea Grain Initiative".

The UN chief thanked the Russian Federation and Ukraine "for nominating and quickly sending their senior representatives to Istanbul," said a statement released by the secretary-general's deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.

Guterres underscored the importance of the parties working in partnership directly to effectively implement the Black Sea Grain Initiative with a view to reducing global food insecurity.

"The work of the JCC will enable the safe transportation, by merchant ships, of grain and related foodstuffs and fertilizers from three key Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea to the rest of the world. This will help to effectively respond to and prevent rising global food insecurity," said the statement.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, signed respectively by Russia and Ukraine on Friday with Türkiye under the auspices of the UN in Istanbul, would allow significant volumes of commercial food and fertilizer exports from three key ports in the Black Sea -- Odesa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny, according to the UN.