(Adnkronos) – Italy has urged Mediterranean, southern European, western Balkan and Arab states to collaborate and dialogue more for “peace, stability and growth” in the wider Mediterranean region, to diversify supply chains, create “reliable and predictable” transport routes, and invest in local production to prevent future “global shocks” like the current one triggered by the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway’s closure.
“We must strengthen our cooperation and make the wider Mediterranean region an area of peace, stability and growth,” foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday at a meeting in Rome on food security and access to fertilisers that brought together guests from the 9-member EU Med Group, the Arab League and the Western Balkans.
“It is essential to strengthen dialogue between the countries of the wider Mediterranean and Middle East region. I propose making this format permanent. Our voice must be heard loud and clear in every forum: in Europe, in the G7, at the United Nations, in NATO, IMEC (the India–Middle East–Europe Corridor sea and rail trade link).”
Referring to the escalating conflict in the Middle East sparked by US-Israel strikes on Iranian military targets that began in late February, which lead to Iran’s close of the Strait of Hormuz, Tajani said: “We are meeting at a time of profound crisis.”
“The tensions in the Gulf are not a regional issue. They are a global shock. We are very concerned about the effects on trade and energy prices. But we are also very concerned about the impact of the crisis on food security and fertilisers,” Tajani said.
Around 30 per cent of global fertiliser trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz, Tajani underlined, noting that its closure is driving up the cost of transport, insurance and fertilisers – which are essential for agriculture.
“All countries are being hit, but our concern is greatest for the most fragile regions and nations, especially in Africa, like Sudan,” Tajani went on.
“Agriculture is crucial for regional stability and the current crisis could spark fresh tensions and migrant influxes,” he said.
Italy supports all schemes to combat the impact on food security of the Strait of Hormuz crisis, including a newly announced initiative by the Rome-based UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s director-general Qu Dongyu “who will provide us with more details,” said Tajani.
