Croatia and Italy launch a coalition for fertilizer supply security

On Thursday Croatia and Italy launched the Rome Coalition for Fertilizer Access and Food Security in the Strait of Hormuz at the MED9 meeting in the Italian capital.

The situation in the Middle East is not a distant crisis or just a regional concern, but a major geopolitical shock for Europe that increasingly threatens our stability, economic security and the lives of our people, said Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlić Radman at a partnership meeting of the MED9 group, the alliance of European Mediterranean countries that Croatia has chaired since April of this year.

The meeting, co-organized with his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani, brought together representatives of 40 countries, including the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Western Balkans, along with officials from the UN and its Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The Middle East is a leading center for fertilizer production, and much of the world's trade in this key agricultural material passes through the Strait of Hormuz, currently blocked due to the US-Israeli attack on Iran.

The Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs stressed that the blockade of the Strait is already raising fertilizer prices, leading to shortages and jeopardizing production.

"This is not just an economic issue, but also a question of political stability in our wider neighbourhood, but also in Europe itself," Minister Grlić Radman stressed.

In their joint statement, the participants of the meeting, which launched the Rome Coalition, expresses their commitment to ensuring more stable, affordable and diversified fertilizer and food supply chains. They noted that this includes strengthening cooperation between producers, transit and importing countries, expanding regional production capacities, improving logistical connectivity and supporting investments in resilient agro-food systems. They underlined their shared commitment to the Mediterranean as a space of peace, dialogue and cooperation. The statement also noted that it was agreed that the coalition should help prevent food insecurity and supply chain disruptions from further exacerbating instability, humanitarian pressures and migration flows.

Source: HRT