Two years on that sentence feels less like a slogan and more like doctrine.
Since the G20 Summit hosted in New Delhi in 2023 the global landscape has shifted dramatically. Trade routes have become strategic assets.
Supply chains have become security concerns. Connectivity is no longer only about efficiency. It is about resilience. It was in this context that the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, IMEC, was announced under India’s presidency.
The project was designed not simply to move goods but to future proof India’s access to Europe through the Middle East while insulating it from extremist disruption and the pressures created by China’s expansionist connectivity model.
At the moment of its unveiling IMEC generated both excitement and skepticism. Then came October 7. The Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, followed by escalating confrontation involving Iranian proxies and Iran itself, led many observers to declare IMEC dead on arrival. How could a corridor traverse a region that appeared to be moving toward regional war.
Yet IMEC was never simply a shipping alternative to the Suez Canal. It was conceived as a layered architecture.The first layer is market access. Without preferential trade frameworks a corridor is simply an empty road. The second layer is connectivity that includes digital networks, energy flows and data infrastructure. The third and most crucial layer for the Indo Mediterranean space is risk mitigation through defence cooperation and supply chain resilience.
Seen through this lens IMEC was never a single announcement. It was always intended as a long strategic process.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Israel this architecture continued to take shape. The visit reinforced the strategic partnership between the two countries and signalled the deepening of cooperation in trade, technology and security.
Shortly after the visit the regional situation escalated dramatically when the United States and Israel launched military strikes on Iran, pushing the confrontation into open conflict. These developments underscored how closely the economic logic of connectivity and the security environment of the region are intertwined.
While the United States supported IMEC at the moment of its announcement India has steadily and methodically advanced the alliances and agreements that will ultimately give the corridor substance.
On the western flank India and the European Union have finally concluded negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement after nearly two decades. On the eastern flank the UAE India CEPA is already operational and negotiations for a broader India GCC Free Trade Agreement are firmly underway. CEPA already provides practical transit flexibility across the Gulf while the GCC track embeds the corridor in a wider regional economic framework.
Modi’s visit to Israel took place soon after the first round of negotiations for an Israel India Free Trade Agreement. Security cooperation between the two countries however predates trade negotiations by many 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. Israel faces Iran as a primary state adversary while India confronts Pakistan and cross border terrorist networks.
Both countries are also home to large Muslim populations and must balance pluralism with security while confronting non state extremist actors. The emerging cross pollination between radical groups, from Hamas outreach in Pakistan to ideological linkages in the subcontinent, reinforces the convergence of their security concerns.
The recent attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel and the cautious but measured reaction from New Delhi illustrate the depth of the evolving 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 defence alignment involving India, the United Arab Emirates and Israel with the possibility of Greece and Cyprus joining such cooperation.
In a region where Turkey increasingly leverages NATO’s internal divisions to pursue assertive policies that affect both Israel and India, such coordination acquires strategic relevance.
At the same time India has not abandoned its broader frameworks even as Washington has shown less enthusiasm for groupings such as the Quad and I2U2. Instead New Delhi has intensified a pragmatic approach based on bilateral and minilateral cooperation.
Jordan also plays a quiet but important role. Modi’s historic visit to the country months earlier created political momentum for support along the Levantine segment of the corridor. Physical infrastructure along the route is also advancing.
Adani Ports has established a presence in Haifa while a memorandum of understanding between Adani and the Port of Marseille was signed during President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to India.
These partnerships anchor the corridor at both ends of the Mediterranean route. The final step required to consolidate IMEC’s European arm is the completion of an Indo Italian agreement on the port of Trieste which would extend the corridor into Europe’s industrial heartland.
Unlike China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is often characterized by speed and asymmetric financing structures, IMEC is evolving as a collaborative framework. It is slower. It requires negotiation. It demands political patience. Yet this deliberate process is also its strength. Trust is being constructed gradually through trade agreements, defence cooperation, infrastructure partnerships and regulatory alignment.
Parallel to this process India’s recent AI Summit and the Delhi Declaration endorsed by more than eighty countries and institutions signal that New Delhi is not only constructing physical corridors. It is also shaping the standards that will govern digital infrastructure and emerging technologies. Data routes and energy networks will follow the same strategic logic as ports and railways. They will remain open, resilient and governed by transparent rules.
The United States may be distracted. Regional crises may continue to erupt. Skepticism may persist. Yet IMEC is neither stalled nor symbolic. It is evolving quietly and deliberately in a distinctly Indian manner.
Trust comes first. Trade follows. Corridors are built only after both are secured.
If the Indo Mediterranean space is to achieve stability 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 that has guided Modi’s economic diplomacy. Build alliances patiently. Embed resilience structurally. Pursue self reliance not as isolation but as interdependence built on trusted partnerships.
The corridor is not dead. It is under construction.
Vas Shenoy is the Chief Representative for Italy at the Indian Chamber of Commerce and the founder of the Indo Mediterranean Initiative.