Plans afoot for connectivity from Mediterranean to India via Gulf

New Delhi: Plans are afoot for connectivity from the Mediterranean to India via the gulf involving countries like Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia and India. The foreign minister of India, Israeli, Egyptian, Cyprus, Greece and others are expected to meet in Dubai at the 12th edition of Sir Bani Yas Forum to further discuss the plan. The forum meets from 12th to 14th November.

Zee Media has learned that the plans focus on building a corridor from India to the Gulf and West Asia to Eastern Mediterranean which would finally connect to Europe and will be seen as a game-changer for the region.

The in-person meeting of the foreign ministers is expected to clear the counters of the connectivity project, which right now is in rudimentary mode of discussions.

Important to understand, three key countries in West Asia, who will be part of the discussion for the project - Saudi Arabia, Israel and UAE have close relationships with New Delhi. In fact, India, Israel and UAE are working on trilateral projects as well.

The Abraham Accords of 2020 saw normalisation of ties between Israel and UAE and since then both sides have increased engagements with each other including the presence of Israel pavilion at the Dubai Expo.

India has been taking a lead in several connectivity initiatives, from the Chabahar port project in Iran that links it to Central Asia and beyond to Kaladan Multimodal project in the east that connects it to ASEAN countries. Chabahar is also key to the International north-south transport corridor connecting Mumbai to Moscow.