The India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor – which was unveiled at the G20 summit in September, seen by many as a counter to China’s Belt Road Initiative – is a strategic and economic game changer, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today as she presented the interim budget.
The corridor deal hopes to integrate India’s vast market of 1.4 billion people with countries to the west, offer a counterweight to Chinese infrastructure spending, boost Middle Eastern economies and help normalise relations between Israel and Gulf Arab states.