New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron today agreed the two countries should work more closely on building the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEEC).

The IMEEC is an important project as it passes through Marseille in the Mediterranean Sea.

Marseille, where PM Modi went today to pay homage to Indian soldiers who died fighting alongside their French counterparts in World War I, occupies a strategic space in the Mediterranean Sea.

It is at the crossroads of global shipping routes and positioned as the natural gateway to southern Europe.

The city’s importance is such that PM Modi and Mr Macron inaugurated an Indian consulate in this port city. The prime minister said this consulate will serve as an important bridge, strengthening cultural, economic and people-to-people connections between India and France.

A fully operational IMEEC will improve India’s maritime security and ensure faster movement of goods between Europe and Asia. The IMEEC was launched during India’s G20 presidency.

Some analysts see it as one of the countermeasures against China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive infrastructure project that is a central pillar of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s bid to expand his country’s clout overseas.

Western critics accuse China of using the BRI to enmesh developing nations in unsustainable debt to exert diplomatic leverage over them or even seize their assets. Many countries have withdrawn from the BRI.

The IMEEC aims to integrate India, Europe, and the Middle-East through UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel and the European Union.

India and Mediterranean countries have a huge common interest in the shipping sector, whether in ship building, ownership, maritime sector or in the cruise business.

India sees a huge opportunity in developing ports and has doubled its port capacity in the last decade.

The IMEEC will have two separate corridors – the east corridor connecting India to the Gulf, and the northern corridor connecting the Gulf to Europe. The corridor intends to enhance connectivity, increase efficiency, reduce costs, secure regional supply chains, increase trade accessibility, generate jobs and lower greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in a transformative integration of Asia, Europe and Middle East

The implementation of the IMEEC involves multiple stakeholders and is at an initial stage, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told parliament in a written reply in August 2024.

The IMEEC seeks to mobilize $600 billion by 2027 to address infrastructure gaps in partner countries. The memorandum of understanding on IMECC outlines political commitments from the participants and does not establish legal rights or obligations.

After the France visit, PM Modi departed for the US, where he will hold talks with US President Donald Trump.

President Joe Biden and Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hold a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on, Oct. 25, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Joe Biden has said that he is convinced that one of the reasons why Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel was because of the recent announcement during the G-20 Summit in New Delhi on the ambitious India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor that integrates the entire region with a network of railroad.

Israel has launched a massive counter-offensive against Hamas after unprecedented attacks by the militant group on October 7 killed more than 1,400 people.

Mr. Biden told reporters at a joint news conference with the visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that his analysis is based on his instinct and does not have any proof for this.

“I’m convinced one of the reasons Hamas attacked when they did, and I have no proof of this, just my instinct tells me, is because of the progress we were making towards regional integration for Israel, and regional integration overall. We can’t leave that work behind,” Mr. Biden said.

This is the second time in less than a week that Mr. Biden has mentioned the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) as a potential reason for the terrorist attack by Hamas.

The new economic corridor, which many see as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, was jointly announced by the leaders of the U.S., India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union on the sidelines of the G20 summit in September.

The corridor comprises an eastern corridor connecting India to the Gulf region and a northern corridor connecting the Gulf region to Europe.

Mr. Biden said in the past few weeks, he has spoken to leaders throughout the region, including King Abdullah of Jordan, President Sisi of Egypt, President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia about making sure there’s real hope in the region for a better future about the need to work toward a greater integration for Israel while insisting that the aspirations of the Palestinian people will be part, will be part of that future as well.