G20 Summit: US, India, Saudi Arabia, UAE, EU set to unveil railway, ports connectivity deal

NEW DELHI: A shipping and rail transportation corridor linking countries across the Middle East, South Asia and Europe is likely to be announced on the sidelines of the ongoing G20 Summit in New Delhi, a White House official has said.

The United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the European Union and other G20 partners are set to explore the shipping and rail transportation corridor, which is aimed at aiding in the flow of commerce, energy and data from India across the Middle East up to Europe.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) is expected to be announced at a meeting focused on global infrastructure on the sidelines of the G20 today according to White House Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer.

The leaders are meeting to discuss the global economy and supply chain challenges, among other issues facing the global community. This agreement after it is inked could be seen as an alternate supply chain in a completely evolved post-pandemic world order.

Finer added that President Biden and Prime Minister Modi will meet with other leaders for an event focused on global infrastructure later today.

“The deal will benefit low and middle-income countries in the region, and enable a critical role for the Middle East in global commerce. We see this as having a high appeal to the countries involved, and also globally, because it is transparent because it is a high standard because it is not coercive,” Finer told mediapersons here.

Delving more on the initiative, Finer noted it was not just a railway project but more of a shipping and railway project. "It is not just the Railway project, it is a shipping and Railway project and it is important for people to understand how expansive, ambitious and ground-breaking this will be" Finer added.

Finer termed this to-be-built project as “affirmative positive” aimed at serving the underserved. “The way we see the infra project, it is an affirmative positive project.

It has appeal for countries underserved by infra. We are not asking countries to make a zero-sum choice. We have seen other efforts that are not as ambitious, we feel good about contrast of what we provide,” White House Deputy National Security Advisor said. The infrastructure deal is expected to connect countries in the Middle East via a network of railways. The network will also connect to India through shipping lanes from ports in the region.