Germany’s Merz: Free transit along global sea lanes key to economic success

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed Wednesday the importance of free transit along global sea lanes, saying the government's foreign and security policy will continue to prioritize it.

"For an industrial and trading nation like Germany, the unrestricted use of global sea lanes, and indeed maritime security, is a prerequisite for a successful economy," Merz said at a national maritime conference in the city of Emden.

"We are seeing these days that when geopolitical tensions cause maritime bottlenecks, the global economy is hit, and we are hit where we are most vulnerable," he said, adding that the latest developments have once again showed the close interrelationship between economic and security policy.

"We are living in an era of fundamental global realignment. Security and competitiveness are two sides of the same coin," Merz said. "How quickly we make progress in both areas at the same time will determine how well, how freely, and how prosperously we will live in Germany in the 21st century."

Merz spoke during a continued bottleneck in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway abutting Iran, amid a ceasefire in the US and Israeli war on the country.