New Delhi, June 4 (IANS) The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) could be a “game-changer” in India’s push towards strong and rapid economic growth, top economic and geopolitical experts reckoned on Wednesday during a daylong conference organised by Chintan Research Foundation (CRF) on the project which has huge implications to the country’s growth and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Viksit Bharat @2047’ to transform the nation into a developed entity by the centenary of its independence in 2047.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a trans-continental connectivity project which promises to transform the lives of people across continents, was announced at the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Delhi in September 2023. It is a bold vision to connect India with Europe across the Arabian Peninsula and envisions a multi-modal economic corridor involving multiple businesses, integrating railways, ports, highways, energy networks, and digital infrastructure to enhance trade, investment, and connectivity across the continents.
“From a strategic point of view, IMEC is critical to India. With its friendly relations and fast economic growth, India can be the glue and anchor for this key project,” said Dammu Ravi, Economic Relations Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), while delivering the keynote address at the CRF conference titled ‘IMEC: Connecting Continents, Unlocking Opportunities’.
The event brought together experts from the governments, academia, industry and private businesses across the globe to discuss various aspects of IMEC – including its potential, promises, weaknesses, threats and ways and means to get the ambitious project off the ground.
While acknowledging challenges in implementing a project of this scale which has an estimated cost outlay of over US$ 600 Billion over a 10-year period, most analysts opined that the potential benefits of this project outweighs the costs and obstacles.
When implemented in full, IMEC promises to unlock new opportunities of multi-dimensional trade across regions that have traditionally been close trade partners. It has the potential to facilitate faster and more efficient movement of goods, bypassing existing bottlenecks, reducing shipping delays, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and cutting costs. It also aims to secure regional supply chains, improve trade accessibility and facilitate the economic prosperity of people and countries along the alignment of the project.
“IMEC should be seen as a balancer between a geopolitical project and an economic tool. It has the potential to transform the global landscape,” said Prasanna Karthik, Vice-President (Strategy) at the Adani Group, while participating in the panel discussion. He was speaking on the need for integrated development of ports, a key link in the success of IMEC.
With a target of becoming energy independent by 2047 and achieving Net Zero by 2070, India is increasing use of renewable energy across all economic spheres. Green hydrogen is considered a promising alternative for enabling this energy transition.
Earlier, while welcoming the delegates, CRF President Shishir Priyadarshi said that a holistic approach with strong participation of private businesses would be essential to see the massive project through.
IMEC provides an opportunity for India to not only promote hydrogen as an alternative fuel and an effective long-term alternative to fossil fuels but also export the fuel by incorporating clean hydrogen pipelines into the corridor. India has already allocated US$2.5 billion towards promoting the country’s emergence as a green hydrogen hub.
Several prominent Indian business groups, including the Adani Group, Larsen and Toubro Limited, and ReNew Energy Global, are developing green hydrogen technology at a large scale.
Geopolitically, IMEC is also being pitched as an expression of India’s rise as a global power, both politically and economically, almost coinciding with it becoming the fourth-largest global economy. It is also seen as a natural progression to bring Israel closer to the West Asian region after the signing of Abraham Accords in September 2020 and the potential normalisation of Saudi-Israel ties.
The growing close ties between India and West Asia and India and Israel, coupled with the smart business opportunities that would get unlocked by a direct connectivity to Europe, is another important contributory factor.
In terms of trade between the EU and India, the IMEC is being seen as an economic game changer and an opportunity to strengthen strategic partnerships.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during her recent visit to India in March, had pitched for the IMEC as an important cornerstone for enhancing India-EU trade. “This corridor is much more than just a railway or cable, it is a green and digital bridge across continents and civilizations,” the EU chief has said in the past.
IMEC also figured prominently in the talks between PM Modi and US President Donald Trump during the Prime Minister’s visit to Washington in February this year. Trump called it as one of the “greatest trade routes in all of history” and also pitched for an early summit of the eight signatories of IMEC – which may take place in India later this year – to kick start work on the project.
In April, ahead of PM Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that India remains engaged with “selected partners” on IMEC despite the current political and security situation in the region.
“The political and security in the regions seems like progress of IMEC has frozen, but India has engaged with selected partners and exchanged views on what needs to be done. We don’t necessarily need to wait for the security situation to completely settle down for work to start on IMEC,” said Misri.
The IMEC will comprise two separate corridors, the east corridor connecting India to the Gulf and the northern corridor connecting the Gulf to Europe.
“After the signing of the framework understanding on IMEC in September 2023, all partners had an urgent regional situation to address. It meant that the kind of groundwork that was foreseen between all the partners could not begin immediately. That, however, does not mean individual countries or groups of countries that are part of the original agreement have not discussed or engaged on what the contours of the agreement will look like and what kind of work will be required to effect progress under this agreement,” Misri stated on April 19.
In the same month, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal, while addressing the IMEC High-Level Roundtable on Connectivity and Economic Growth in New Delhi, said that the visionary concept – a powerful endorsement of the leadership and partnership of India and Middle East and East Europe – has caught the fancy of the world.
Goyal stated that IMEC is not merely a trade route, but a modern-day Silk Route — a partnership of equals — that fosters synergy, connectivity, and inclusive prosperity.
“It will bring down logistics costs by up to 30 per cent, reduce transportation time by 40 per cent, and create seamless trade linkages across continents,” he said. “We will not only be linking trade; we will be linking civilizations and cultures — from Southeast Asia to the Gulf, from the Middle East to Central Europe.”
–IANS
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