A broad alliance of states on Saturday unveiled ambitious plans to create a modern-day Spice Route linking Europe, the Middle East and India, boosting trade ties with potentially wide-ranging geopolitical implications.
The US, Saudi Arabia, the EU, the United Arab Emirates and other countries launched the initiative to link railways, ports, and electricity, data and hydrogen networks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi.
Although heavily trade-focused, the scheme could have wide-ranging implications — including developing contacts between long-time foes Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Photo: AFP
Signatories say they hope it can help integrate India’s vast market of 1.4 billion people with countries to the west, offer a counterbalance to lavish Chinese infrastructure spending, boost Middle Eastern economies and help normalize relations between Israel and Gulf Arab states.
“This is a real big deal,” US President Joe Biden said at the launch event, calling the plan “historic.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the so-called India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor was “much more than ‘just’ a railway or a cable.”
“It is a green and digital bridge across continents and civilizations,” she said.
One proposed project would link railway and port facilities across the Middle East — including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel — potentially speeding trade between India and Europe by up to 40 percent.
Eurasia Group South Asia practice head Pramit Pal Chaudhuri said that a shipping container that today travels from Mumbai through the Suez Canal to Europe could one day go by rail from Dubai to Haifa in Israel and on to Europe, saving time and money.
The Suez Canal is a major bottleneck to world trade, handling about 10 percent of global maritime trade, but is often beset by disruptions.
At the same time, the plan neatly aligns with several of Washington’s goals in the Middle East, and officials say the US is keen to see the projects take flight.
Biden’s administration is prodding Riyadh, a major oil producer and security partner, to normalize ties with Israel after decades of conflict and closed borders.
Saudi Arabia has never officially recognized Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the US had approached Israel several months ago for the plan, adding that the project would “reshape the face of the Middle East.”
“The State of Israel will be a central hub in this economic initiative,” he said in a statement late on Saturday.
“Israel will contribute all its capabilities, all its experience, and full commitment to making this collaboration project the largest in our history,” he added.
US involvement could also help mend deeply damaged ties between Riyadh and Washington, which frayed after the US-Iran nuclear deal and the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
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