"India Must Scale Up to Be the Factory of the World": Shri Dammu Ravi on IMEC's Strategic Potential

At a time when the global landscape is undergoing a profound transformation driven by the imperatives of economic integration and geopolitical rebalancing, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) emerges as a timely and ambitious initiative. Addressing a Conference on IMEC: Connecting Continents, Unlocking Opportunities, organised by Chintan Research Foundation in New Delhi on 4 June 2025, Shri Dammu Ravi, Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, offered an overview of IMEC’s origins, potential, and India’s pivotal role in it.

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The genesis of IMEC, he elaborated, can be traced back to early dialogues within the I2U2 initiative—bringing together India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. From those nascent conversations emerged the vision of a wider corridor connecting Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, eventually culminating in its formal announcement during India's presidency of the G20 in 2023. That same presidency also witnessed another historic achievement: the inclusion of the African Union as a permanent member of the G20.

Shri Ravi underlined how the geopolitical shifts in the Middle East—especially post-Abraham Accords, the Saudi-Iran détente, and growing diplomatic dynamism in the Gulf—helped create fertile ground for initiatives like IMEC, aimed at enhancing connectivity and fostering regional stability.