IMEC CAN BE A GLOBAL TRADE GAME CHANGER

India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor has the potential to create faster and cheaper trade routes, drive energy security by linking green hydrogen producers and boost digital connectivity via fibre optic infrastructure

- BY JYOTI VIJ | Special to Gulf News

The idea of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is grand — too grand to be attainable, sceptics may say, given the magnitude of investment, the complexity of geopolitics and geo-economics, and the technological challenges involved. Yet, it is realisable; indeed, it was realised millennia ago.

A recent bestseller, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World, by William Dalrymple has highlighted “India’s often forgotten position as a crucial economic fulcrum... and as one of the main motors of global trade and cultural transmission in early world history”. In fact, the “Silk Route” barely existed, he wrote. Silk “arrived in Roman lands only indirectly, usually by boat, via India.”

Monsoon winds made the golden road possible. What happened millennia ago can certainly happen today, especially with infinitely superior technology, strong financial muscle, and institutional mechanisms.

So, IMEC was announced on September 9, 2023, during the G20 Summit in New Delhi as part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII).