Monday 18 Sep 2023 @ 14:20
Chatham House
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An India–Middle East–Europe corridor is unlikely to boost Saudi–Israel normalization

EXPERT COMMENT

Israel hopes the corridor announced at the G20 will facilitate normalized relations with Saudi Arabia. Riyadh doesn’t see it that way.

At the G20 summit President Joe Biden announced that India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), together with Israel, France, Germany, Italy and the US, want to create an ‘India– Middle East–Europe Corridor’ (IMEC).

This rail and shipping route would include advanced fibre optics, clean hydrogen pipelines and economic zones stretching from India, through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, to Piraeus Port in Greece.

A working group will lay out timetables, financing plans and projects in the next two months. If it materializes, the grandiose project could create a new dimension of economic integration between the Middle East, South Asia and Europe. 

Some in Israel are tempted to see the initiative as a way to fire-up normalization with Saudi Arabia – a diplomatic effort integral to US strategy in the Middle East.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.

 

Channel website: https://www.chathamhouse.org/

Original article link: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2023/09/india-middle-east-europe-corridor-unlikely-boost-saudi-israel-normalization

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