Launched on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023, IMEC is a 6,400-kilometre multimodal hall from Mumbai to Marseille that can play a key position in accelerating the combination between these three areas, notably within the maritime, power and digital sectors. The hall has been a precedence of the bilateral agenda since President Emmanuel Macron's State go to in January 2024 as chief visitor for India's seventy fifth Republic Day. In February 2025, throughout Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official go to to France, the joint declaration of the 2 Leaders underlined the significance of IMEC as a venture “fostering connectivity, sustainable progress trajectories, and entry to scrub power in all these areas.” With France and India at each ends of the hall, IMEC is an extra illustration of the momentum in Indo-French strategic ties.
On the crossroads of three continents, Marseille is a serious gateway to Europe, the Mediterranean and Africa. Not solely is Marseille the European capital metropolis of connectivity, however additionally it is the world's sixth largest digital hub, together with a Euro-Mediterranean hydrogen hub below improvement. A flagship venture of the International Gateway connectivity technique, IMEC is designed to create new avenues for commerce, low-carbon power, and information exchanges between Europe and India.
IMEC exemplifies France's robust dedication to enhancing connectivity with India. On the sidelines of the United Nations Ocean Convention in Good, President Macron chaired the “Summit for a Extra Linked Mediterranean” on ninth June. On this event, heads of state and authorities, in addition to a number of enterprise leaders from North Africa, Europe and the Gulf, reasserted their shared curiosity in fostering geoeconomics initiatives akin to IMEC for the advantage of all. France reaffirmed the imaginative and prescient of IMEC as a community of connectivity reasonably than a single infrastructure line connecting two factors, from the ports of Marseille to Mumbai. This ensures the resilience of the venture, which has been developed to diversify world provide chains. There are already a number of interconnection factors in every area or nation, such because the ports of Mundra, Mumbai or Vadhavan in India.
The connectivity objective is supported by each the private and non-private sectors, as highlighted by the declaration of the CEO of CMA-CGM Group, Mr Rodolphe Saadé, who obtained Prime Minister Modi on the Group's headquarters in Marseille. The group of the primary Raisina Mediterranean Dialogue, with the participation of Dr S. Jaishankar, Hon'ble Minister for Exterior Affairs of India, can be the results of a partnership between the Observer Analysis Basis (ORF) and CMA-CGM. The Dialogue offered a novel platform to bolster discussions between the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific area.
From a broader perspective, regardless of the geopolitical context in West Asia, most of IMEC's signatories have just lately renewed their dedication to maneuver ahead with this hall. France hosted the primary digital assembly of IMEC Sherpas in Might 2025, throughout which the consolidation of the governance construction and the event of feasibility research had been collectively recognized as shared priorities. The involvement of varied personal sector gamers is important to the venture's success. India's political management shall be instrumental in taking IMEC to the subsequent stage. After his go to to France, Prime Minister Modi agreed in Washington with President Trump to deliver collectively all of the stakeholders throughout the subsequent six months. Such a perspective shall be instrumental in implementing a collective governance framework and steering the pre-project section. In the identical vein, through the go to of the Faculty of Commissioners to India, the President of the European Fee, Ursula von der Leyen, additionally declared the European Union's willingness to take concrete steps to advance the venture. France will proceed advocating for a brand new endeavour to form IMEC and make it a actuality throughout the three segments of the venture. The India-France Yr of Innovation in 2026 may even supply a useful alternative to deepen cooperation in sectors which can be key for IMEC, from AI to scrub power.
The writer is French President's Particular Envoy for IMEC
