Increasing prospects of establishing an EU-India-ME strategic corridor and our response

Conventional connectivity corridors have graduated from transport routes into integrated economic platforms that merge trade, infrastructure, industry, capital, and overall development. Their value, besides physical assets, is dependent on regulatory alignment, extent of regional cooperation, and political stability.

Prompted by governments using tariffs as protectionist and strategic tools, sluggish growth, policy uncertainty, market access, global movement of capital, geo-economic objectives of trade & investment, geostrategic landscape, more than a dozen large initiatives are in hand around the globe with different degree of success and involve billions of dollars of investment in different modes.

Exports of services are continuously growing faster than goods provide additional impetus there being large scope of services in the economic corridors including finance, logistics, tourism, transport and allied while regional security dynamics have also entered the corridor arena. This transformation is being described as a global structural change stating as to how growth, capital and influence now move across borders.

Key corridors face the usual obstacles that include competing strategic interests, regional encounters, funding gaps, regulatory division, infrastructure blocks, security risks, and unclear trade volumes. Success commands persistent political loyalty, institutional consistency, and predictable economic demand.

In Asia, China and India have initiated large projects such as Road & Bridge Initiative, and its CPEC portion with Pakistan.

India follows two-fold approach-based projects include solidification of domestic infrastructure (for example, the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor) while focusing on international corridors such as BCIM, the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC), and of late, the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) under I2U2 framework.

Geostrategic and economic factors are now providing basic frameworks. Based on I2U2 framework, IMEC seeks to link India, the Gulf, and Europe through coordinated rail, port, energy, and digital infrastructure.

Structured as an eastern leg (India-Gulf) and a northern leg (Gulf-Europe), the corridor is aimed at facilitating trade, supporting green-hydrogen transport, and consolidating telecommunications.

Strong India-GCC and EU-GCC trade ties present a foundation, but conflicting strategic priorities, financing doubts, regulatory gaps, and regional conflicts have slowed down implementation.

Key corridors face the usual obstacles include competing strategic interests, regional encounters, funding gaps, regulatory division, infrastructure blocks, security risks, and unclear trade volumes. Success commands persistent political loyalty, institutional consistency, and predictable economic demand.

India’s regional posture balances UAE economic and labour ties, deepening relations with Israel, and sensitivities arising from West Asian conflicts, while leveraging external platforms such as the Quad and I2U2 to expand strategic influence for remaining relevant after India’s recent diplomatic isolation in the wake of its limited role in regional fora such as SCO, ASEAN and others.

Now after recent developments spurred by Modi’s visit to Israel and Iran-Israel war have brightened the prospects for strategic diversification and common benefit to IMEC members in a chaotic world. India, in the previous decades, supported Palestine, but later on, deep relations were developed with Israel that have now been upgraded to a strategic level. In this scenario, Israeli-India-UAE trade relations are poised to grow further, which is likely to support IMEC.

UAE–EU-India and Israel partnership highlights how collaboration is deepening across odd regions. Their new collaboration may ultimately bring the United States to the centre point, to even “counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Silk Road projects”.

Now after recent developments spurred by Modi’s visit to Israel and Iran-Israel war have brightened the prospects for strategic diversification and common benefit to them in a chaotic world. India, in the previous decades, supported Palestine but later on, deep relations were developed with Israel under the Modi regime that have been upgraded to a strategic level.

Further growth is a natural corollary as it provides India, the Middle East, including Israel, and other partnering countries fresh opportunities for convergence of their interests to achieve broader objectives.

The escalating Iran-Israel conflict poses significant risks to global trade and regional economies, as it threatens key maritime corridors like the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal, which together handle billions in energy and goods shipments annually.

Disruptions are already forcing longer detours at heavy costs, raising sea freight and insurance costs, and impacting supply chains for textile, and other commodities traded globally through sea routes, including petroleum, causing immediate price hikes and stocks crashes.

In terms of timing, current disturbances could even give impetus to fast development of corridor following the broader economic cooperation between India and EU characterized by a recent agreement on textile, UAE’s huge investment in India, geopolitical constraints of Israel and diplomatic isolation of India (and covert US support) in the current volatile world.

Israel has repeatedly talked about seeking “an axis of our own” as a form of “alliance system” between Israel and India for formation of a new regional “model of cooperation”. Furthermore, Israel has envisioned “hexagonal alliance” and is expanding cooperation with Greece and Cyprus in energy, natural gas, and maritime transportation in the Eastern Mediterranean as an emerging network for achievement of its economic and geopolitical interests.

Such focused plans of the adversaries and global instabilities underscore the urgent need for resilient, diversified logistics and trade routes. It is, therefore, high time for the Asian countries to appreciate the current scenario and work more closely and quickly towards trade and investment. They also need to explore the possibility of developing new corridors as a strategic countermeasures in view of reports for continuation of the current war.

Pakistan, which is directly affected by animosities with Afghanistan and India and their collaboration with Israel, should rise to the occasion and avail the opportunities provided by the alternate routes and forums like CAREC and projects like Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Silk Route and CPEC for connectivity and transit from Gwadar to China, and Central Asia via Western provinces like Xinjiang rather than Afghanistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026