The corridor is a major deal signed by India during the G20 summit.
At the recently-concluded G20 summit, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced the launch of a new trade corridor connecting India to the Middle East and Europe through land and sea routes. The 'India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor' is part of a Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. After the announcement, several videos of the proposed corridor are going viral on social media. These animated clips show how goods will be transported to Middle East and Europe, benefiting the traders here. Analysts say it will be a direct challenge to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The route of the corridor
The animated video shows a ship leaving India's western port and heading towards Gulf of Oman. It docks in Dubai and then the cargo takes a rail route to move across Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel, again taking the sea route from Haifa to reach Europe.
After touching Cyprus, it reaches Greece. The animation then shows a truck that takes the cargo via land route to Serbia and Croatia in southeastern Europe.
The cargo then enters Austria and ends the journey in Germany. Text overlay on the video shows the cargo covering a distance of 8,158 kilometres.
Significance of the mega corridor
The corridor will not only bring India and Europe close, but also enable cheaper and faster business. The route significant because it's an alternate to China's BRI and won't force participating countries to fall into the debt trap of China.
It will also revolutionise trade, energy and communication through water and railway networks.
The corridor will be built in two parts - the first one (eastern corridor) will connect India and West Asia. The second part will connect West Asia with Europe.
This proposed corridor will also make it easier for companies to transport their containers from Mumbai to Europe. Currently, they have to go through the Suez Canal, which is longer. This corridor will being down the dependency of Suez Canal.
A rail route from Haifa Dubai to Haifa will be constructed for the corridor.
Experts say it will boost the existing business by 40 per cent.
How will this corridor benefit India?
India will be at the centre of the corridor connecting it to Europe and the Middle East. It will not only improve infrastructure and communication, but also generate new employment opportunities and create new supply chains.
This corridor is a major step towards helping India become a developed country by 2047.