logo
Despite Gaza war woes, India hustles to manifest its trade corridor to Europe

Despite Gaza war woes, India hustles to manifest its trade corridor to Europe

Straits Times05-05-2025

French President Emmanuel Macron (left) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seen during the inauguration of the Indian Consulate as part of a visit in Marseille, France, on Feb 12. PHOTO: REUTERS
– India is making every effort to advance an ambitious plan to deepen transportation and economic connectivity with the Middle East and Europe even if the war in Gaza appears to have thrown a spanner in the works.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (Imec) has so far received US President Donald Trump's blessings – though it was launched during his predecessor Joe Biden's presidency more than a year ago on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders' meeting in New Delhi and a month before the Gaza war started.
This multi-nation geo-economics project is seen as important to India's Global South leadership ambitions and widely viewed as a parallel to China's Belt and Road Initiative.
In the decade or so since Beijing unleashed its Belt and Road initiative, it claims to have invested in more than 100 countries – including those in a corridor that connects China with Europe via Central Asia that used to be part of the ancient Silk Road trading route.
'He (Trump) wants to push this project. He would likely weigh in the China factor, taking in China's growing footprint in the (west Asia) region,' said Dr Alvite Ningthoujam, an assistant professor in international studies at a Pune-based private university, Symbiosis International.
Following a February meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Trump called the Imec 'one of the greatest trade routes in history' and noted that 'a lot of money is going to be spent'.
The proposed Imec consists of an eastern corridor linking India to the Arabian Gulf and a northern corridor that will connect the Arabian Gulf to Europe.
For Mr Trump, Dr Ningthoujam noted, the range of opportunities for American companies to play a part in developing port and rail infrastructure is a big attraction.
Imec aims to boost trade, establish telecommunication and data networks, along with energy links for the exchange of green hydrogen and electricity.
While the Gaza conflict has ruled out multilateral collaboration with Israel and the Gulf countries for now, India is taking incremental steps by initiating bilateral projects, nearly two years after half a dozen countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, signed on to the project in September 2023.
New Delhi and Riyadh are working on a feasibility study to connect electricity grids through undersea cables under the Arabian Sea between Saudi Arabia's eastern coast and India's western coast.
Imec and strengthening bilateral connectivity have continued to feature in talks between India and the UAE, which in 202 4 signed an agreement of cooperation on the corridor but without any mention of Israel, a key Middle East Imec partner.
'There is a lot of groundwork that needs to be done. We do not need to necessarily wait for the security situation to completely settle down for work to start on Imec,' said Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in a press conference on April 19.
Talks are ongoing with European partners such as France, Greece and Italy.
'If you look at the response of various stakeholders, it suggests the value of Imec is still considered high enough for it not to be sidelined because of geopolitical challenges,' said Professor Harsh V. Pant, vice-president for studies and foreign policy at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think-tank.
France and Italy have appointed their own Imec envoys. French President Emmanuel Macron has already sought to position the southern port city of Marseilles as the corridor's entry point for Europe. The city is also where Mr Modi officially opened India's new consulate in February.
'Imec's vision may not unfold exactly as anticipated in terms of the scope or timeline, but it remains economically, strategically and politically relevant and viable,' said Dr Narayanappa Janardhan, director for research and analysis at Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi.
Domestically, too, India has been taking steps that are seen to be linked to its ambition of creating new trade routes. In February this year, India announced a consortium of public sector companies, including India Ports Global, to develop and operate overseas ports in line with this ambition.
Globally, connectivity projects have acquired added importance following various conflicts and the Covid-19 pandemic. This has led to efforts like Imec to create new trade routes.
Even without the Gaza conflict, the sheer scale and ambition of Imec poses many challenges.
'This is not just trade. We are talking about a green energy corridor and many other aspects. We need to decipher what this project entails. Is it trade, economy or geopolitics? I think it's a mix of all, and the challenge would be – how do you coordinate?' said Dr Meena Singh Roy, a senior fellow and head of India-based think-tank Tillotoma Foundation's West and Central Asia Centre.
According to Indian calculations, the trade route will bring logistics costs down.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said these costs could be lowered by up to 30 per cent and transportation time reduced by 40 per cent, compared with India using the Suez Canal as a trade channel.
'This being a multi-modal project, multi-country cooperation on transit rules is clearly the biggest hurdle,' said Dr Amitendu Palit, senior research fellow and research lead (trade and economics) at the NUS Institute of South Asian Studies.
Other issues relate to 'securing capital, aligning infrastructure and resolving technical and administrative issues', according to an Imec study conducted by MENA2050, an organisation that seeks to foster development in the Middle East and Africa.
While Imec is the most ambitious of India's efforts to find and secure new trading routes, there are others such as the International North-South Transport Corridor.
The latter is a 7,200km network of railroads, highways and maritime routes connecting Russia with Iran and India. Sanctions on Iran and Russia have slowed its development.
'India is a growing economy. It needs to be part of as many connectivity projects as it can,' said Dr Roy.
For now, however, Professor Zikrur Rahman, a former Indian ambassador to Palestine, said Gulf countries would not move f orwar d multilaterally unless a solution is found for Gaza.
'It is a wait-and-watch approach in relation to what Israel is doing in Gaza,' he added.
Nirmala Ganapathy is India bureau chief at The Straits Times. She is based in New Delhi and writes about India's foreign policy and politics.
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Italy plans to scrap no single buyer rule in Serie A TV rights sale
Italy plans to scrap no single buyer rule in Serie A TV rights sale

Straits Times

time31 minutes ago

  • Straits Times

Italy plans to scrap no single buyer rule in Serie A TV rights sale

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Serie A - Napoli v Sassuolo - Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples, Italy - August 27, 2023 General view inside the stadium before the match through the television camera REUTERS/Ciro De Luca/File Photo MILAN - Italy plans to remove a ban on Italy's Serie A top flight soccer league selling its domestic broadcast rights to a single buyer, a draft government bill seen by Reuters showed, marking a major overhaul of media rules for live sports events. Italy introduced the "no single buyer rule" to avoid creating a dominant player in the pay-TV sector in 2008, when it approved a law entrusting sport leagues to collectively sell the rights to screen live matches. Broadcasting rights are the main revenue source for Serie A clubs but they lag behind those of other major European national leagues. Under existing contracts expiring in the 2028-29 season, Serie A earns some 900 million euros ($1 billion) annually from sport streaming service DAZN and pay-TV firm Sky, with the former screening all of the games and Sky co-broadcasting some of them. That sum is roughly half of the annual domestic broadcasting revenue of England's Premier League, which has a 'no single buyer rule' in place. Germany's Bundesliga, which last year removed its 'no single buyer rule', pockets some 1.1 billion euros annually from domestic broadcasting licences, according to data compiled by UEFA. The Italian government also plans to introduce changes in the way Serie A distributes the TV revenue among clubs, raising to "above 50%" from the current 50% the sum which must be equally split among all clubs, the draft bill showed. Clubs which develop and field young Italian players will be also granted additional revenue.($1 = 0.8758 euros) REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

Trump deploys Marines, raising tensions in Los Angeles protests
Trump deploys Marines, raising tensions in Los Angeles protests

CNA

timean hour ago

  • CNA

Trump deploys Marines, raising tensions in Los Angeles protests

LOS ANGELES: Hundreds of Marines were due to arrive in Los Angeles (LA) on Tuesday (Jun 10) after United States President Donald Trump ordered their deployment in response to protests against immigration arrests and despite objections by state officials. The 700 crack troops will join National Guard soldiers, amping up the militarisation of the tense situation in the sprawling city, which is home to millions of foreign-born and Latino residents. The largely peaceful demonstrations - marred by sporadic but violent clashes between police and protesters - were entering their fifth day. The unrest was sparked by a sudden intensification of Trump's signature campaign to deport illegal migrants, with raids conducted on workplaces. In downtown LA's Little Tokyo neighbourhood at night on Monday, scores of protesters faced off with security officials in riot gear, some shooting fireworks at officers who fired back volleys of tear gas. Earlier, demonstrators marching with banners and handmade signs yelled "ICE out of LA" and "National Guard go away" - a reference to immigration agents and Guard soldiers. California officials have stressed that the majority of protesters have been peaceful, and that they were capable of maintaining law and order themselves. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom wrote on X that US Marines "shouldn't be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfil the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President. This is un-American". Trump, meanwhile, has branded the LA protesters "professional agitators and insurrectionists". "If I didn't 'SEND IN THE TROOPS' to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now," he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. One small business owner in the city, whose property was graffitied during the protests, was supportive of Trump's strong-arm tactics. "I think it's needed to stop the vandalism," she told AFP, declining to give her name. Others were horrified. "They're meant to be protecting us, but instead, they're like, being sent to attack us," Kelly Diemer, 47, told AFP. "This is not a democracy anymore." Police have detained dozens of protesters in LA in recent days, while authorities in San Francisco and other US cities have also made arrests. "INCREDIBLY RARE" Trump's use of the military is an "incredibly rare" move for a US president, Rachel VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles and a former lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force, told AFP. The National Guard, a fully equipped reserve armed forces, is usually controlled by state governors and used typically on US soil in response to natural disasters. The Guard has not been deployed by a president over the objections of a state governor since 1965, at the height of the civil rights movement. Deployment of regular troops, such as the Marines, on US soil is even more unusual. US law largely prevents the use of the military as a policing force, absent an insurrection. Speculation is growing that Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act, giving him a free hand to use regular troops for law enforcement around the country. The Pentagon said late on Monday that Trump had authorised an extra 2,000 state guardsmen to LA.

Russia and Ukraine exchange sick and wounded prisoners of war
Russia and Ukraine exchange sick and wounded prisoners of war

Straits Times

timean hour ago

  • Straits Times

Russia and Ukraine exchange sick and wounded prisoners of war

A Ukrainian prisoner of war looks on as he stands with others after a swop, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at an unknown location in Ukraine, in this handout picture released June 10, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS KYIV - Russia and Ukraine said they exchanged an unspecified number of sick and wounded prisoners of war on June 10 under an agreement reached at peace talks last week in Turkey. The handover took place after an initial swop of prisoners under the age of 25 was conducted on June 9. "Today marks the first stage of the return of our seriously wounded and injured soldiers from Russian captivity. All of them require immediate medical attention. This is an important humanitarian act," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram, adding that exchanges would continue. "We are doing everything to find and bring back everyone who is in captivity," he said. An official Ukrainian video showed smiling prisoners of war leaving a bus at an undisclosed location, wrapped in flags of Ukraine or of their units. Many chanted "glory to Ukraine". Ukrainian prisoners of war hold hands and react after a swop, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at an unknown location in Ukraine, in this handout picture released June 10, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS In a statement, Ukrainian military intelligence said most of the freed soldiers had serious injuries and illnesses including amputations, infections and trauma. It also said that due to security considerations, the exact number of those released would be announced only after the exchange process was completed. The defence ministry in Moscow said the Russians freed in the latest handover were currently in Belarus, which borders both the warring countries, and would be returned to Russia for medical treatment and rehabilitation. A Ukrainian prisoner of war reacts after a swop, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at an unknown location in Ukraine, in this handout picture released June 10, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS Prisoner exchanges have been the only tangible result so far of peace talks between the two sides in Turkey, which resumed last month after a gap of more than three years but have failed to make progress towards a ceasefire. A thousand captives on each side were traded in a swop last month, the biggest of the war so far. At last week's meeting, the two sides also agreed to hand over the bodies of thousands of dead soldiers, but this transfer has yet to take place. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store