🇮🇳 India's reply to China's trade corridor
India is building an economic corridor leading up to the Middle East and Europe!
2023 was India’s year.
We were the world’s fastest growing economy!
Adding another feather to the cap, India is now going to build the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by India, the European Union (EU), Germany, Italy, France, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The IMEC will have railway lines, sea lines and road networks.
It will have two corridors:
East Corridor connecting India to the Arabian Gulf
Northern Corridor connecting the Arabian Gulf to Europe
The corridor has 3 major objectives:
Boost economy through transportation of energy resources via undersea cables
Bridge the infrastructure gap in lower and middle income countries
Improve regional security
That's not all.
This corridor also aims to boost trade and speed up the transport of goods from India to Europe:
And well.
India expects major strategic outcomes from the corridor:
make Indian goods more competitive in the Western markets
catalyse major sectors (manufacturing, textiles, IT), creating jobs and fueling economic growth
Plus, this opens up new avenues with the Middle East.
India has also signed some other pacts with the UAE to strengthen ties:
Cooperation in Digital Infrastructure Projects
Cooperation in the field of heritage and museums
Interlinking instant payment platforms - UPI (India) and AANI (UAE)
Interlinking domestic debit/credit cards - RuPay (India) with JAYWAN (UAE)
With India as the central hub in the global supply chain, major trade flows can now be diverted through India.
This will also reduce dependency on any single trade route (like the Suez Canal).
The game changer?
The India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor can become an alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The BRI was launched in 2013 with an aim to improve China's connectivity with the rest of the world.
But it has faced criticism for creating debt dependencies among participating countries.
With India already becoming an alternative manufacturing hub, it is now set to take over global trade.
However, given the current geopolitical tensions, how will the IMEC play out?
Let us know in the comments!
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