A recently published RAND corporation study in partnership with Islamabad based think-tank makes a strong case for linking South Asia with Central and West Asia through a network of energy, infrastructure and digital corridors.

The study titled, "Examining the Feasibility of an East West Economic Corridor (EWEC) for South and Central Asia", is based upon primary sources and interviews of experts from main stakeholder nations in EWEC.

The senior policy practitioners, politicians, business tycoons, academics and infrastructure experts participated in the study, making it one of the seminal contributions to the academic literature on regional connectivity and economic partnership.

Most important aspect of the feasibility study was the complete consensus amongst the Indian and Pakistani respondents about the value of trade and economic connectivity as a vehicle for sustainable peace in the region. The linkage of EWEC with CPEC and other regional and international connectivity initiatives like International North South Transport Corridors (INNSTC) and BRI was also acknowledged as a win-win formulation that should link all these economic corridors in a mutually beneficial equation.

The study also analysed past examples of success and failure of economic corridors between countries as well as continents. An interesting fact that emerged from the analysis of past corridors was the need for generating economic activity in the countries being served with these corridors, in the absence of which, a simple transport corridor might not generate any economic activity other than resources extraction, much like what happened in the African countries........

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