Pakistan will export surplus food to Gulf as Iran cements control of Hormuz strait
Pakistan plans to export surplus food supplies to the Arab Gulf states as food security concerns mount due to Iran's control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed authorities to accelerate the export of surplus food items to Gulf countries while ensuring an uninterrupted domestic supply, according to a press handout issued by his office.
The statement added that Islamabad is looking to expand flight operations and enhance port efficiency as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Iran has wrested control of the Strait of Hormuz and is imposing its own corridor system. Traffic through the waterway has plunged, while Iran allows a select number of vessels to transit, in some cases levying $2m fees, according to the maritime intelligence publication, Lloyd's List.
While Hormuz is a chokepoint for 20 percent of the world’s energy, it’s also a vital passageway for Gulf food supplies.
Some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, which has access to the Red Sea, are less affected by this closure. But for the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar, it is critical. Roughly 90 percent of the UAE’s food supplies traverse the waterway.
Experts previously warned Middle East Eye that Gulf countries could face a reckoning in food imports if the Strait of Hormuz remained closed to them and western vessels.
“Increased shipping and insurance costs will all manifest themselves in food inflation,” Christian Henderson, a scholar of political economy and food security at Leiden University, told MEE.
Pakistan has been one of the few countries to safely navigate the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier this month, the Lorax, a Pakistan-flagged ship also known as the Karachi, became the first vessel carrying non-Iranian crude to transit through Hormuz, with its ship-tracking data, called the Automatic Identification System, on.
Pakistan has been walking a tightrope as it tries to manage its ties to its neighbour Iran and important Gulf partners that have long served as its financial lifeline.
The country is also among the most impacted by the plunge in Gulf energy exports. Fuel rationing has already begun, including a four-day working week for government employees and a two-week closure of schools.
Mediator role
Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defence pact with Pakistan last year, shortly after Israel attacked Hamas negotiators in Doha, Qatar. The agreement was in part seen as a move to diversify defence ties beyond the US. Turkey later entered talks to expand the agreement.
As Iranian missiles and drones target the kingdom, some Saudi commentators have raised the defence pact with Pakistan, saying it places the kingdom under the latter’s nuclear umbrella.
A US official told MEE previously that Islamabad has become wary of some of these remarks and discussed them with Saudi Arabia.
But Islamabad’s neutrality has made it a mediator, with officials from the US and Iran likely to engage in talks in Pakistan on ending the war on Iran, according to US and regional media reports.
Pakistan might also be able to traverse the Strait of Hormuz more easily than other vessels.
The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that Iran has circulated a letter to member countries of the International Maritime Organisation, saying that “non-hostile vessels” can transit the Strait of Hormuz “in co-ordination with Iranian authorities”.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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