It was geopolitics that anchored international relations in the 20thth century. Today, in the quarter of the 21stst century, it has become clear that it was the era of geoeconomics. Admittedly, geopolitics and geoeconomics share a symbiotic relationship, because military and strategic forces are reinforced by economic integration, and vice versa. And despite the dominant accounts of dis-aging, a degradation of multilateralism and the palpable decline of the alliances of the post-tense world war managed and built by the Western powers, the appetite to connect the world, the people, the industries and the economies were only invigorated by more recent actors forging new projects which seek to link different parts of the globe.
An appropriate illustration is the vision of an India India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor, better known as IMEC, connecting India to Europe via the Middle East. Announced on the sidelines of the G20 2023 summit in New Delhi, this economic plan represents a new era of thought. In the past, few have imagined that the Middle East was at the heart of the construction of global financial motorways. However, the dazzling rise of the United Arab Emirates, a rapid opening and growing from Saudi Arabia, Qatar organizing its first world football cup in 2022 and another iteration of the same thing that was now split for Saudi Arabia in 2034 – all this highlighted the way the winds changed for a region which was little time ago: oil and conflicts. Although the geopolitical crevices persist, as seen in the current war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, a story of change emerges.
India and Europe, as a nodes of entry and exit from this vision of connectivity, benefit not only from states and regions serving transit points for such a project, but also as stakeholders. Europe has an experience which is worth drawing to evolve towards successful connectivity; India and the Middle East are the new faces of globalization, growth and global governance. From New Delhi and Dubai to Riyadh, such as Aviv, Amman, Cairo and others, the future of growth has new leaders who seek to contribute to a plan in the world over the next century.
This publication, Rethink the commercial roads of India-Europe in a new era of connectivityIncludes two reports that seek to add to the current speech. The first report examines the broader realities of connectivity between India and Europe via the Middle East as a stage setter to explain why connectivity projects deserve to be invested. The second report examines how Egypt, which houses the Suez Canal, one of the most critical ways in the world, can be at the heart of the success of such a project.
The massive connectivity projects between India and Europe are forces for several decades. At a time of uncertainties, the efforts of countries sharing the same ideas bringing together their political and financial meaning to rebuild the idea of a world order deserve to be explored.
Read the report here.
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