\n<\/p>\n
Dr Al Jaber, who is also managing director and group CEO of the UAE\u2019s state oil giant ADNOC, said the strait was not built, engineered, financed or constructed by any state, and that no country had a legitimate right to determine who may pass and under what terms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a natural passage governed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which guarantees transit as a matter of right; not a privilege to be granted, withheld or weaponised,\u201d he wrote, stressing that it must be opened with \u201cno strings attached\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strait must be open – fully, unconditionally and without restriction. Energy security and global economic stability depend on it. The weaponisation of this vital waterway, in any form, cannot stand. This would set a dangerous precedent for the world \u2013 undermining the principle of freedom of navigation that underpins global trade and, ultimately, the stability of the global economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The matter is \u201cparticularly urgent\u201d for Asia, where 80 per cent of waiting cargoes are bound and half the world’s population lives, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n