Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will try to convince Vladimir Putin to return to the Black Sea grain deal today and ease a global food crisis.

The leaders are set to meet in Sochi, Russia, in the afternoon, and the Turkish administration hopes its role as broker in the original agreement – made last year – will aid discussions.

“We are cautious, but we hope to achieve success,” Turkey’s chief foreign policy and security advisor Akif Cagatay Kilic told the A Haber television channel.

Explained: Russia quit the grain deal in July, complaining that while it allowed the safe export of Ukrainian grain, its own food and fertiliser exports faced obstacles due to Western sanctions.

In particular, the Kremlin wants its state agricultural bank to be reconnected to the global SWIFT payments system.

Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s key players in the wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed, rapeseed oil, sunflower seed and sunflower oil markets. 

Many people in the world’s poorest regions rely on shipments from the Black Sea for food.