Beyond G-20: Countering BRI, the Saudis, US, India, and others to ink logistics deal
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Two years after US President Joe Biden announced in a G-7 meeting the USD 40 trillion global infrastructure initiative called the Build Back Better World (B3W) to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), America, India, the European Union, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are set to sign a major MoU for the development of a transcontinental rail and port network at the ongoing G-20 Summit here.
Sensing an increasing international isolation, Chinese President Xi Jinping, like his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, has skipped the G-20 Summit.
In the emerging multipolar geopolitics, the ambitious mega-project will connect the Middle East with India and Europe, a senior US official said on Saturday.
Jon Finer, US Deputy National Security Advisor, said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) would be inked to “explore a shipping and rail transportation (project) that will enable the flow of commerce, energy, and data from India across the Middle East to Europe.”
Apart from the US, EU, and India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be part of the new initiative, he told reporters in New Delhi.
The agreement comes with Washington actively engaging with the Saudi kingdom, encouraging it to normalize ties with Israel.
“This has been the result of months of careful diplomacy, quiet, careful diplomacy, bilaterally and in multilateral settings,” he added.
This project “has enormous potential but exactly how long it takes, I don’t know,” Finer added.
The agreement to discuss the project could be among the most tangible outcomes of the Summit, with G-20 leaders divided over Russia’s war in Ukraine and gridlocked on finding an agreement to slash carbon emissions.
“While we’ve all read and maybe you all have written a lot of analysis about who is or isn’t in Delhi for the summit, and why or why not that may be, the United States is focused on the fact that President Biden is here and rolling up his sleeves with the other G-20 countries and partners to produce real results,” Finer said.
