Rail and shipping project linking India to Middle East and Europe to be announced at G20 could counter China

President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and allies on Saturday were to outline plans for a rail and shipping corridor that would connect India with the Middle East and ultimately Europe – a possible game changer for global trade to be announced at the Group of 20 summit.

The project would include the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the European Union and other countries in the G20, said Jon Finer, Biden’s principal deputy national security adviser.

Biden, Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen plan to announce the project as part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment.

The rail and shipping corridor would enable greater trade among the countries, including energy products. It could also be one of the more ambitious counters to China’s massive infrastructure programme, through which it has sought to connect more of the world to that country’s economy.

Finer laid out three big rationales for the project. He said first that the corridor would increase prosperity among the countries involved by increasing the flow of energy and digital communications.

Second, the project would help address the lack of infrastructure needed for growth in lower- and middle-income nations. And third, Finer said it could help “turn the temperature down” on “turbulence and insecurity” coming out of the Middle East.

“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 said.

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Von der Leyen was expected to describe the project as “nothing less than historic” and as an “India – Middle East – Europe economic corridor” that will make trade between India and Europe 40 per cent faster, according to a draft of her prepared remarks.

The project will include a rail link as well as an electricity cable, a hydrogen pipeline and a high-speed data cable, according von der Leyen’s prepared text, which also describes the project as “a green and digital bridge across continents and civilisations.”

She is also expected to announce a “Trans-African Corridor” that will connect the Angolan port of Lobito with Kananga province in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the copper-mining regions of Zambia.

Biden participated in the summit’s first session, which focused on the theme of “One Earth.” The US president plans to draw on the theme to push for more investments to address climate change, such as his own domestic incentives to encourage the use of renewable energy, Finer said. Biden also wants to make the case that Russia’s war in Ukraine is hurting many other nations, which have had to cope with greater food and energy costs as well as higher interest rate costs on their debt.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been a regular presence at international summits, including last year’s G20 in Indonesia, since Russia invaded his country more than 18 months ago, was not invited by Modi’s government to this year’s gathering.

Zelensky has the used the high-profile gatherings to argue for continued economic and military support for his country. India is one of the most prominent US allies that has largely stayed on the sidelines of the war, and has even dramatically increased its purchases of Russian oil.

Finer said White House officials pushed for Zelensky’s inclusion at the summit.

“Ultimately, it is not our decision”, Finer said. “But you can expect that the United States and our other partners who are working with Ukraine so closely … We’ll make that case quite forcefully in the context of these conversations”.

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The summit’s second session is about “One Family.” Biden plans to use this portion to discuss his request to Congress for additional funding for the World Bank that could generate more than US$25 billion in new lending for economic development, Finer said.

The White House more broadly is trying to strengthen the G20 as an international forum, while Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin decided not to attend.

Still, China and Russia are represented at the summit and that could make it difficult for the G20 to produce a joint statement on the war in Ukraine.

“Really it’s incumbent upon the Chinese government to explain why a leader would or would not participate,” Finer said.