United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for the restoration of freedom of navigation in key maritime choke points, warning that disruptions to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea and the Black Sea were increasingly threatening global trade and food supplies.
"Today, conflicts in different regions are converging in their impact on the world's most vulnerable people," Guterres said at a news briefing.
Disruptions to maritime traffic were restricting the movement of energy, fertilizers and other essential commodities, while the conflict in Ukraine was threatening shipping routes used to export oil, grain and other agricultural products, he said.
"These crises are choking arteries of global trade and squeezing the global food system especially hard," he said. "The result is clear: higher prices, deepening hunger, weaker harvests and greater suffering — especially for the world's most vulnerable people."
The disruption has already had a significant impact on global shipping and commodity markets, he said.
