Comparative Study of Experiences of Developed Countries in Maintaining Emergency Reserves and Devising Solutions for Iran

One of the most important responsibilities of any government is to ensure that the basic food requirements of the population and the requirements of critical service sectors to the key materials and products are met during crises. In developed countries of Europe, North America and Oceania, three main approaches exist for this purpose. The first approach is maintaining emergency reserves of important food and non-food commodities or products. In the two other approaches, no such reserves are maintained. In the second approach, in critical conditions government relies on coordination among authorities and local authorities, or it may directly acquire the required goods from the market and compensates later. Finally, the third approach is to rely on free market mechanisms and taking actions only if necessary. Since Iran maintains strategic reserves for staple foods, medicine and medial equipment's, this study is focused on examining the experiences of the developed countries that have adopted similar approaches. In this regard, the storage and management mechanisms of emergency reserves in Finland, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovenia and United States are studied and analyzed, and then policy recommendations are devised for improving the relevant policies in Iran.