The India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor, IMESE, is a transnational rail and shipping routes spread across two continents, which the US says is expected to stimulate economic development through improved connectivity and economic integration between Asia, Arabian, Gulf, and Europe. For the project, an MU has been signed between Saudi Arabia, European Union, India, the UAE, France, Germany, Italy, and the US. The IMESE will include two separate corridors, the East corridor connecting India to the Arabian Gulf, and the Northern corridor connecting the Arabian Gulf to Europe. It will include railway projects, which upon completion will provide a reliable and cost-effective cross-border ship-to-rail transit network to supplement existing maritime and road transport routes, enabling goods and services to transit between India. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, and Europe. The objectives for IMESE include generating economic growth while incentivizing new investments in the region. It aims to connect the two continents, Asia and Europe, with commercial hubs and facilitate development and export of clean energy, support existing trade and manufacturing synergies and strengthen food security and supply chains. The project will also help link energy grids and telecommunication lines through undersea cables to expand access to electricity, internet, etc. In terms of objectives, both the mega-transnational projects are similar. However, China's new Silk Route is larger in terms of scale. Announced in 2013, China has signed BRI cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations, galvanizing nearly $1 trillion and creating over 3,000 projects. Even some of the IMESE-Mouse signatories are also part of BRI, such as Italy, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Though Italy has now decided to pull out of it. Though the IMESE policy documents do not talk about the belt and road initiative or China, the project parallels BRI, which is a global trade and infrastructure plan based on the lines of the old Silk Road that link China and the West. Analysts say that China's BRI is already a decade ahead of the IMESE, which is still not finalized. The finances should not be an issue, but a more concrete comparison could be made. Having said that, BRI has its own share of issues such as allegations of it being a debt trap for developing countries. For instance, Sri Lanka, which joined BRI, last year declared that it is unable to meet its debt obligations marking the worst economic crisis in the island country in the last several decades. According to a White House release, the IMESE is expected to increase efficiencies, reduce costs, enhance economic unity, generate jobs, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The cross-border shipping and railways corridor will reduce logistics costs as well as boost trade and goods and services between the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, and Europe. For instance, the destination for India's engineering exports are primarily the Middle East and Europe. Similarly, this offers India the opportunity to create green hydrogen and green ammonia hubs near the coasts and supply the commodities via shipping and rail network to the Middle East and eventually Europe. Analysts project that the corridor will make India's export deliverables more efficient and cost-effective thereby adding to their competitiveness. The first and foremost challenge is to create a firm plan to establish the corridor. At present, there are no financial commitments, which will be decided in about two months. LANGIN network of railway lines, roads and port connectivity across countries requires a high level of coordination and planning. Besides, the corridor also passes through Jordan and Israel, which throws up geopolitical challenges which would require a fine balance of economic and diplomatic maneuvering. The BRI, which is in its 10th year, has faced several challenges related with coordinating with countries, financial packages, geopolitics, diplomatic considerations, etc. The IMC will also have its share of similar challenges. It would be worth watching how a balance is struck between the two commitments. Thank you for watching.