EU’s Kaja Kallas discusses Hormuz shipping initiative with UN vhief

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said she has discussed with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres the possibility of creating an initiative to safeguard oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, modeled on the wartime grain export agreement from Ukraine.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Kallas said: “I had talks with Antonio Guterres about whether it was possible to also have the same kind of initiative like we had [with] the Black Sea Initiative," Caliber.Az reports via foreign media. 

The Black Sea Initiative, brokered in 2022, allowed Ukrainian grain exports to resume despite the ongoing war, helping stabilise global food markets.

Kallas warned that any closure of the Strait of Hormuz would pose significant risks to global energy flows. She described such a move as “really dangerous” for energy supplies to Asia and said it would also disrupt fertiliser production.

“And if there is ⁠a lack of fertilisers this year, there’s going to be also ⁠food deprivation next year,” Kallas said, without providing further details.

She added that EU ministers would also examine whether to adjust the mandate of the bloc’s naval mission in the Middle East, Operation Aspides, which currently focuses on protecting commercial vessels in the Red Sea from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

By Sabina Mammadli