With the airspace closed over Iran and denied over Pakistan, the Air India flight from Frankfurt to Delhi last weekend flew southeast over Athens, crossed the Mediterranean to Cairo, turned east to fly across the Red Sea and the Arabian Peninsula to Oman and then over the sea to enter India in the Kutch region. Nearly 12,000 metres above sea level, it traced the path of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). I was returning from the inaugural edition of the Raisina Mediterranean Dialogue, where every session turned into a discussion on IMEC. The flight was evidence of both its existence and necessity.

Few positive ideas have energised the world in recent times as much as IMEC after it was unveiled in September 2023 in Delhi at the G20 Summit of the Indian presidency. There have been competing claims on its provenance, with western literature often describing it as a US-led initiative. However, it was initially conceived as a post-Covid project for a strategic India-Middle East corridor by India’s national security advisor. It was later extended to Israel’s Mediterranean port of Haifa and onwards to Europe to serve multiple Indian geopolitical and economic goals.

In IMEC, the Gulf seeks to reprise its historical role in trade, diversify its economy and markets and pursue its geopolitical ambitions. The US entered the project, drawn by regional competition with China and hope of normalising Arab-Israel relations; however, conditions and US relevance may have changed now. Geopolitical, economic, energy, and digital connectivity interests attracted Europe, seeking to rebalance relations amidst structural external shocks. Following France, Italy, Germany and the EU became members. The raging and expanding conflicts in........

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