Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman acknowledged on Wednesday that the Israel-Hamas conflict poses a significant challenge to the proposed India-Middle East-Europe Connectivity Corridor (IMEC), designed to enhance connectivity and reduce emissions.
The IMEC project was endorsed at a G20 meeting in New Delhi in September under India’s presidency. Envisioned as a rail and ports corridor passing through Israel, connecting the Middle East and South Asia, it is part of the U.S. strategy to counter China's Belt and Road initiative on global infrastructure.
Sitharaman, speaking at the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue 2023, stated that the IMEC faces geopolitical challenges due to the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza. Despite this, she emphasized the project's potential benefits, asserting it to be a win-win situation. The corridor aims to establish a more efficient transportation system, reducing logistics costs, enhancing economic unity, generating employment, and lowering carbon emissions.
Primarily maritime in nature, the IMEC will connect Indian ports such as Mumbai's Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, Mundra, and Kandla in Gujarat, with West Asia’s ports like Fujairah and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and Saudi Arabia’s Dammam and Ghuwaifat ports. The rail segment will extend the IMEC, linking Saudi Arabian cities Haradh and Al Haditha, ultimately reaching the port of Haifa in Israel.
The final segment, often referred to as the Northern Corridor, will be another maritime section connecting the port of Haifa to the Greek port of Piraeus, extending onward to Europe, as outlined by Sitharaman.
(With Agency Inputs)
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