8 September, New Delhi: On Saturday, the presidents of the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are expected to unveil a huge collaborative infrastructure project that would link Gulf and Arab nations through a network of trains, according to a media report.
According to Axios, it would also link to India through maritime channels from regional ports.
As China’s influence in the Middle East rises, this project is a top priority for the White House.
China sees the Middle East as essential to its Belt and Road initiative.
According to Axios, the collaborative railway project is one of the primary deliverables Biden intends to offer during this weekend’s G20 Summit in New Delhi.
The move comes as the Biden administration works to wrap up negotiations with Saudi Arabia on a mega-deal that might involve normalisation between Saudi Arabia and Israel before the 2024 campaign takes up the president’s time.
On Saturday, the White House said in a statement that the president would take part in a “Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment event.”
According to Axios’s reporting, a U.S. official with knowledge of the negotiations stated that final preparations for the announcement are still underway.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) describing the tenets of the initiative will be signed by the heads of state of the four nations involved if discussions are concluded within the next two days.
According to Axios, the plan calls for a network of trains to be built between Arab nations in the Levant and the Gulf, with connections to India through seaports in the Gulf.
According to the sources, if ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel improve in the future, Israel might join the railway project, expanding its reach to Europe through Israeli seaports.
The likelihood of a quick bilateral meeting between Vice President Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the margins of the G20 increases if the project is announced.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan of the White House met with his Saudi, Emirati, and Indian colleagues in May, which was originally reported by Axios.
According to the article, Biden’s senior assistant for energy and infrastructure Amos Hochstein initiated a series of follow-up conversations during the meeting, with the project serving as a focal point.
According to the two individuals, discussions between the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and India at another conference dubbed I2U2 during the last 18 months yielded the concept for the current project.
According to Axios, the group was founded in late 2021 to offset Beijing’s rising influence in the Middle East by discussing critical infrastructure projects in the area.
During the I2U2 talks during the last year, Israel brought up the concept of linking the area by trains.
The plan was to take use of India’s experience with mega-scale construction projects. According to Axios, the proposal was developed further by the Biden administration to include Saudi Arabia.
