India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)

Scope and Design

It is a network of multimodal transportation, connecting rail, ship-to-rail, and roads.
Besides, it is going to house electricity cables, hydrogen pipelines, and high-speed data cables.
It contains two major corridors:

• East Corridor: Connects India to the Arabian Gulf.
• Northern Corridor: Routes the Arabian Gulf to Europe.

Part and Participant countries

• Including India, the US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, EU, Italy, France, and Germany.
  • Hub Ports India: Mundra, Kandla, and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.
  • Middle East Ports: Fujairah, Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi, Dammam, Ras Al Khair ports and port of Haifa of Israel.
  • Piraeus in Greece and Messina in Marseille.

Objectives:

• There is establishment of complete networking for trade and transportation between India, Middle East, and Europe.
• Improve trade efficiency, reduce costs, generate employment, and lower GHG emissions.
• Change connectivity between Asia, Europe, and the Middle East to promote trade and cooperation.

Importance of IMEC In the Context of Geopolitical Effects

• Against China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
  • They present an alternative to the BRI, thereby denying China dominance over a full-fledged region.
• Connecting Through Civilizations
  • It fosters intercontinental cooperation between Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
• By-Passing Pakistan
  • It bypasses the Pakistan blockade on India’s direct land route to the West.
• Strategic Gulf Cooperation:
  • It further enhances India’s political and strategic engagement with the Gulf states.
• Peace and Stability:
  • It is likely to increase intra-regional connectivity and may bring down political tensions within the Arabian Peninsula.

Economic Benefits Trade Enhancement

• Transit Time Reduces
  • So the trade to and from Europe would become 40% faster as if done over Suez Canal. Industrial Growth
• Infrastructures in Transporting
  • Improve on the infrastructures in transporting the raw materials and other commodities into sources.
• Job Generation
  • This enhances job development in infrastructures, logistic industry, and all trading departments.
• Security for Energy Products
  • There would be steady and consistent flow of products for the supply of energy resources.
• SEZ Development
  • Develop SEZs en-route so that overseas investments can arrive en-route.

 Challenges to IMEC

• Logistics and Infrastructure
  • Complex Connectivity: Logistic coordination of transport across country boundaries by rail and road and sea is complex when a route needs interchange with multiple nations.
  • Infrastructure Gaps: There are meaningful railway links only in the Middle East. Highly heavy construction work is going on over there.
  • There are several stakeholders involved: Policies, regulations, and interests have to be coordinated among participating countries, which is a difficult task.
• Opposition
  • There will be opposition also from the routes which are recently being proposed as present routes would go under threat in terms of revenue that is generated by Egypt from its Suez Canal.
• Financial Restraint
  • Heavy Expenditure
    • Construction cost per route is in the region of USD 3–8 billion
      Means of Finance.
    • The challenge has been how to raise enough finances.

Way Forward

• Geopolitical Equilibrium
  • Coordination as well as cooperation among the participants.
• Sustainability Thematic Focus
  • Make the construction a green practices.
• Sound Security Arrangement
  • Protect the cargo and infrastructure from the threat of piracy and theft.