‘Nothing less than historic’: At G20, Europe, Middle East, US to launch rival to China’s Belt and Road

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New Delhi: Europe, India, the United States, and parts of the Middle East will seize upon Chinese President Xi Jinping's absence at the G20 summit to launch a rail and shipping corridor that could rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative as they attempt to diversify supply chains away from Beijing.

The project marks the first significant announcement of the G20 meeting in New Delhi, after fears the group of the 20 largest economies would fail to make any major inroads as member nations struggle to reach a consensus on a final communique.

Traffic moves near the main venue of the G20 Summit in New Delhi.Credit: AP

The India – Middle East – Europe Economic Corridor, expected to be announced late on Saturday, will integrate railway lines and port connections from India to Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, enabling the transport of green hydrogen and the laying of undersea data cables across the region.

“This is nothing less than historic,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, which leads the EU, is expected to say on Saturday. “It will be the most direct connection to date between India, the Arabian Gulf and Europe.”

The details of the proposed rail route remain thin, but von der Leyen claimed the connection would make trade between India and Europe 40 per cent faster. The infrastructure will also link countries in Europe and the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, that have a long history of disputes over human rights and national security.

“This corridor is much more than just a railway or a cable,” von der Leyen will say. “It is a green and digital bridge across continents and civilisations.”

US officials have taken a leading role in the negotiations as the White House looks to take advantage of Xi’s no-show at the G20 and the mounting debt linked to the Belt and Road Initiative. The deal also marks a return to Middle East diplomacy by Washington after Beijing brokered a detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran last year.

US deputy national security advisor Jon Finer told reporters that the project had enormous potential and comes after “months of careful diplomacy, quiet, careful diplomacy, bilaterally and in multilateral settings”.

The announcement follows days of uncertainty over whether the G20 would achieve any meaningful outcomes after the withdrawal of Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Negotiations over the G20’s final communique have been bogged down in debate over the war in Ukraine. India, which relies on Russian military supplies, has been reluctant to criticise Moscow since it invaded Ukraine last year.

Indian media have quoted diplomatic sources suggesting Modi, out of consideration for his relationship with Putin, may be less inclined to push for a joint statement that includes Ukraine.

According to the Reuters news agency, a 38-page draft that circulated among member nations left the “geopolitical situation” paragraph blank, while the countries had agreed on the 75 other paragraphs which included climate change, cryptocurrencies and reforms in multilateral development banks.

Russia has been given an option to include a dissent as a part of the statement, but if no declaration can be agreed it will be the first G20 in 20 years that does not result in a joint declaration.

Modi has attempted to shift the summit away from Ukraine towards climate change and infrastructure development, where India is pitching itself as the leader of developing countries in Xi’s absence.

Modi celebrated an early victory on Saturday by having the African Union inducted as a permanent member of the G20, expanding the influence of developing countries in the grouping.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in his opening remarks at the summit, was scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday night and may hold bilateral meetings with US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the summit sidelines on Sunday.

Albanese also met briefly in a joint meeting with the leaders of Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey (an informal grouping known as MIKTA) and discussed negotiations on an Australia-EU free trade deal with von der Leyen.

He told the climate-focussed opening session that the G20 nations must rapidly increase the manufacture of renewable energy technology, warning: “We cannot let this opportunity slip from our grasp.”

With Latika Bourke

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