Trust, trade and the slow architecture of India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor
Two years on this sentence sounds more like a doctrine than a slogan.
The global landscape has changed dramatically since the G20 Summit in New Delhi in 2023. Trade routes became strategic assets.
Supply chains have become a security concern. Connectivity is no longer just about productivity. It’s about durability. The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) under India’s chairmanship was announced in this context.
The project is designed not just to transport goods, but also to prove India’s access to Europe via the Middle East, while also insulating it from extremist disruptions and pressures created by China’s expansionist connectivity model.
As soon as it was announced, IMEC generated both excitement and skepticism. Then came October 7th. Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel, followed by escalating conflicts involving Iran’s proxies and Iran itself, led many observers to declare IMEC dead on arrival. What kind of corridor can pass through a region that seems to be heading towards regional war?
However, IMEC was never a shipping alternative to the Suez Canal. It was designed as a layered architecture. The first layer is market access. Without preferential trade frameworks, the corridor is an empty road. The second layer is connectivity, which includes digital networks, energy flows, and data infrastructure. The third and most important layer for the Indo-Mediterranean space is risk mitigation through defense cooperation and supply chain resilience.
Viewed through this lens, IMEC has never been a single announcement. It was always intended as a long strategic process.
This architecture continued to take shape during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Israel. The visit strengthened the strategic partnership between the two countries and signaled the deepening of cooperation in the fields of trade, technology and security.
Shortly after the visit, the regional situation escalated dramatically as the United States and Israel launched a military attack on Iran, escalating the conflict into open conflict. These developments underlined how closely intertwined the economic logic of connectivity and the security environment of the region are.
While the United States supported IMEC when it was announced, India steadily and systematically advanced the alliances and agreements that would ultimately form the content of the corridor.
On the western flank, India and the European Union have finally completed negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement after almost two decades. On the eastern flank, the UAE India CEPA is already in operation and negotiations for a broader India Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement are firmly underway. While CEPA already provides practical transit flexibility across the Gulf, the Gulf Cooperation Council route places the corridor within a broader regional economic framework.
Modi’s visit to Israel comes on the heels of the first round of negotiations for the Israel India Free Trade Agreement. But security cooperation between the two countries predates trade negotiations by years. Since the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, India and Israel have shared an unspoken strategic understanding.
Both countries are targets of Islamist extremism. While Israel faces Iran as its primary state enemy, India faces Pakistan and cross-border terrorist networks.
Both countries are home to large Muslim populations and must balance pluralism with security while combating non-state extremist actors. The cross-pollination that has emerged between radical groups, from Hamas aid in Pakistan to ideological affiliations in the subcontinent, is reinforcing the convergence of security concerns.
The recent US and Israeli attacks on Iran and New Delhi’s cautious but measured response demonstrate the depth of the developing strategic relationship between India and Israel.
It is therefore not surprising that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ahead of Modi’s visit, hinted at the possibility of an Indo-Mediterranean defense alignment involving India, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, as well as the possibility of Greece and Cyprus joining such cooperation.
In a region where Türkiye is increasingly taking advantage of NATO’s internal divisions to pursue assertive policies affecting both Israel and India, such coordination assumes strategic importance.
At the same time, while Washington has shown less interest in groupings such as the Quad and I2U2, India has not given up on broader frameworks. Instead, New Delhi has intensified a pragmatic approach based on bilateral and mini-lateral cooperation.
Jordan also plays a quiet but important role. Modi’s historic visit to the country months ago created political momentum for support along the Levantine section of the corridor. Physical infrastructure is also improving along the route.
While Adani Ports maintains its presence in Haifa, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Adani and the Port of Marseille during President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to India.
These partnerships anchor the corridor at both ends of the Mediterranean route. The final step needed to consolidate IMEC’s European arm is the completion of an Indo-Italian agreement for the port of Trieste, which will extend the corridor to Europe’s industrial heartland.
Unlike China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is often characterized by speed and asymmetric financing structures, IMEC is developing as a collaborative framework. It is slower. It requires negotiation. It requires political patience. But this deliberate process is also its strength. Trust is gradually built through trade agreements, defense cooperation, infrastructure partnerships and regulatory alignment.
In parallel with this process, India’s last Artificial Intelligence Summit and the Delhi Declaration, approved by more than eighty countries and institutions, signal that New Delhi is not just building physical corridors. It also shapes the standards that will manage digital infrastructure and emerging technologies. Buses and energy networks will follow the same strategic logic as ports and railways. They will remain open and resilient and will be governed by transparent rules.
The United States may be distracted. Regional crises may continue to increase. Skepticism may persist. But IMEC is neither static nor symbolic. It unfolds quietly and deliberately, in a distinctly Indian way.
Trust comes first. This is followed by trade. Corridors are built only after both are secured.
If the Indo-Mediterranean space is to be stabilized in an age of fragmentation, it will not happen through grand declarations. It will emerge through layered commitments that gradually reinforce each other. IMEC reflects the broader philosophy guiding Modi’s economic diplomacy. Build alliances patiently. Build durability structurally. Pursue self-reliance not as isolation, but as interdependence built on trusting partnerships.
The corridor is not dead. It is under construction.
Vas Shenoy is the Chief Representative of Italy at the Indian Chamber of Commerce and founder of the Indo-Mediterranean Initiative.
