ANKARA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Moscow has agreed to resume its implementation of a deal that allows the export of grain from designated Black Sea ports.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was informed by his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu that the grain agreement would "continue in the same way as before" as of Wednesday, Erdogan told his party members at the parliament.

He said "the goods news" followed his phone talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin a day earlier, in which the two leaders discussed the deal's implementation.

First shipments now will prioritize African countries, including Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan, Erdogan added.

The UN-brokered grain export deal was reached in late July in an effort to ensure the supplies of Russian and Ukrainian grain and agri-products to global markets in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Russia announced on Saturday its suspension of the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, accusing Ukraine of carrying out drone attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet near Sevastopol and infrastructure at the naval base there, which Ukraine denied.

On Tuesday, Akar said "Ukrainian interlocutors made (written) statements that relieved these concerns both during their conversations with us and during the meetings of the officials at the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul." Enditem

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