Ajit Doval is the man behind India's answer to China's Belt and Road Initiative
G20 Summit in Delhi was the committment to build a rail-and-port network that will connect India to the Middle-East and the Middle-East to Europe and the US. It has been named the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
Though no leader from the participating countries mentioned China, it is an obvious alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that aims to connect the whole world to China throgh shipping, rail and road networks.
Though intense negotiations, led by Deputy NSA Vikram Misri, were held between the four countries and other stakeholders since early last week to seal the deal, as reported by ET, the IMEC was not something that was hurriedly cobbled up at the G20 Summit. Its genesis lies in a forum created nearly two years ago in October 2021 called I2U2, comprising India, Israel, the UAE and the US.
The Saudi Arabia was later made part of the grouping.
India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is the man behind crafting this mega infrastructural project as he had been in negotiations with his counterparts from other particpaiting countries, especially American NSA Jake Sullivan, for past several months.
How it all started
The I2U2 is a grouping of four nations, which came into existence in October 2021. The group consists of India, the US, the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
The primary objectives of the group are to deepen the technological and private-sector collaboration among the nations and tackle large-scale challenges. In July last year, the group issued its inaugural joint statement, affirming the six focus areas that member nations collectively agreed to prioritise.
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