NEW DELHI, Apr 19: India on Saturday said it is not necessary to wait for the regional security situation to completely settle down for work to start on the India-Middle-East-Europe-Economic Corridor (IMEEC) and it is working with select partners on the project.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri indicated that the ways to implement the IMEEC project may figure in the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah next week.
Misri made the remarks at a media briefing on Modi’s two-day visit to Saudi Arabia beginning April 22.
Billed as a pathbreaking initiative, the IMEEC envisages a vast road, railroad and shipping network among Saudi Arabia, India, the United States and Europe with an aim to ensure integration among Asia, the Middle East and the West.
“The political and security situation in the region makes it seem as if progress on IMEEC has frozen. But actually, we have been working with select partners,” Misri said, responding to a question.
The foreign secretary also referred to a number of countries appointing special envoys for IMEEC.
The fragile security situation in the Middle East, especially the Israel-Hamas conflict, has caused some delays in the implementation of the IMEEC.
“We have engaged with several of those envoys to exchange views on what needs to be done. There is a lot of groundwork that needs to be done,” he said.
“We do not need to necessarily wait for the security situation to completely settle down for work to start on IMEEC,” Misri said.
The IMEEC initiative was firmed up on the sidelines of the New Delhi G20 Summit in September 2023.
An agreement was signed by India, Saudi Arabia, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the US and some other G20 partners for the corridor.
“You will see as I imagine in the fairly near future, engagement on IMEEC among the partners — both original as well as prospective ones — will at some point fructify on the ground,” Misri said.
“But there is work that is already going on and I am sure during this meeting (PM-Crown Prince) as well there will be references to what more can be done to take forward work on IMEEC,” he said.
Last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the landmark IMEEC initiative will create a truly new global axis for economies, energy resources and communications.
Modi is visiting Saudi Arabia at the invitation of the Crown Prince. It will be Modi’s third visit to Saudi Arabia as the prime minister.
India and Saudi Arabia share close and friendly ties with a long history of socio-cultural and trade contacts, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
“As strategic partners, the two countries share strong bilateral relations across various areas including political, defence, security, trade, investment, energy, technology, health, education, culture and people-to-people ties,” it said.
“India’s relations with the Kingdom have evolved into a stronger and enduring partnership in the past decade, expanding into many strategic domains, with growing investment commitments, broadening of defence cooperation and intensive high-level exchanges across sectors,” it added.
The MEA said Modi’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia reflects the importance India attaches to its bilateral relationship with the Gulf nation.
“It will provide an opportunity to further deepen and strengthen our multi-faceted partnership, as well as to exchange views on various regional and international issues of mutual interest,” it said. (PTI)
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