IN-DEPTH: Trade Corridor Linking Europe, Middle East, India Stands in Contrast to China’s Belt and Road Program: Experts

The India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor will help the oil-dependent Gulf countries to diversify their economies.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman (L), India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) and US President Joe Biden attend a session as part of the G20 Leaders' Summit at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on September 9, 2023. EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

NEW DELHI—During the 20th G-20 summit in New Delhi, a new multimodal connectivity and economic corridor called IMEC was announced, linking India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Israel and the European Union through a series of shipping ports and rail routes.

Pitched as a transformative project under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment, the project not only treads through geopolitical fault lines but is also seen as a competition to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), according to experts on the matter.