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| (From left) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and French President Emmanuel Macron attend the launch of the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor, also known as the Spice Route, on September 9, 2023. (Source: AFP) |
On the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi, India, on September 9, an alliance of several countries and India announced an ambitious plan to create a Spice Route connecting Europe, the Middle East and India, boosting trade relations with wide-ranging geopolitical implications.
The initiative, launched by the US, Saudi Arabia, the European Union (EU), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and several other countries, would link railways, ports, power and data grids, and hydrogen pipelines.
The project will connect rail and port infrastructure across the Middle East – including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel – and has the potential to boost trade between India and Europe by up to 40%.
The signatories hope the plan will help integrate India's vast market of 1.4 billion people with western countries, boost the Middle East economy and promote normalization of relations between Israel and Gulf Arab states.
Speaking about this ambitious project, US President Joe Biden emphasized: “This is truly a big deal… historic.”
Meanwhile, President of the European Commission (EC), Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, assessed that the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor is “not just” a railway or cable, but a “green and digital bridge across continents and civilizations”.
While today, shipping a container from Mumbai, India to Europe requires going through the Suez Canal, in the future it could be transported by rail from Dubai to Haifa in Israel and on to Europe, saving time and money, said Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Eurasia Group's South Asia officer.
The Suez Canal is currently a major "bottleneck" for world trade, where about 10% of global maritime cargo volume passes but is often disrupted. In March 2021, the giant container ship Ever Given caused a traffic jam here for nearly a week when it got stuck.
The Spice Route economic corridor will develop infrastructure to enable the production and transport of green hydrogen. The plan will also boost telecommunications and data transmission through a new submarine cable connecting the region. Middle Eastern countries could also reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.
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