French envoy eager for Europe to strengthen trade with UAE and India

In an office steps away from the Arc de Triomphe, Gerard Mestrallet leans back in a leather chair, his tone calm but resolute. At 76, the former chief executive of French energy giant Engie is once again at the heart of an ambitious project – this time as President Emmanuel Macron's personal envoy for a vast infrastructure plan: the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). Work on the corridor, designed to strengthen trade links between Europe, the Middle East, and India, is rapidly gaining momentum. As Washington ramps up tariffs and global trade dynamics shift, Brussels is broadening its outreach. This week, the European Commission and the UAE agreed to open free trade agreement talks, following breakthroughs with Thailand and renewed negotiations talks with Malaysia and the Philippines. For Mr Mestrallet, IMEC has the potential to bring the West and the Global South closer together. “It will be the most important infrastructure project of the 21st century,” Mr Mestrallet told The National . “It connects regions that want peace, prosperity and which have long term trust relationships. It is exactly what we need today. We need stability. We need trust. We need confidence.” The IMEC blueprint outlines two interconnected corridors: a maritime route linking India to Gulf nations, and a northern rail line stretching from the Gulf to Europe. The 6,400km project also involves digital cables and pipelines. Hydrogen, which the UAE has started exporting to Germany in small quantities, will be a priority investment. “Along the railway route, participants intend to enable the laying of cable for electricity and digital connectivity, as well as pipe for clean hydrogen export,” reads IMEC's 2023 Memorandum of Understanding. “Trade between India, the Middle East, and Europe is growing at 6 or 7 per cent per year. At this pace, it will double in 10 years. To meet these economic demands, we'll need transport, maritime, and rail infrastructure,” said Mr Mestrallet. Signed just weeks before the October 7, 2023 attacks against Israel, IMEC's early momentum stalled. Development projects at the Israeli port of Haifa – set to play a central role – were put on pause as Israel launched a retaliatory war against Gaza . Mr Mestrallet declined to comment directly on the conflict, stressing instead the corridor's long-term geopolitical vision. “It would enable the implementation of the Abraham Accords,” he said in a reference to the agreement signed in 2020 by Israel, the UAE and Bahrain. “It would also be a way to bring the Middle East, India and the West closer, at a time when some commentators see a split between the West and the Global South. So, it's really important for the stability of the world.” That ambition aligns with EU-India efforts to finalise a long-delayed free trade agreement by the end of the year – 18 years after negotiations started. “It's clear that Trump's return has revived talks. We see a much more firm approach from the EU now for a deal,” said Olivier Da Lage, India specialist at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations in Paris. Speaking to the Financial Times on Friday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: "[There is] the interest of so many countries around the world to work closer with us, together, to balance the system and to have free trade really competing on quality and not around tariffs.” Brussels hopes IMEC can become a flagship project of $300 billion Global Gateway infrastructure strategy. “The EU is committed to working with the IMEC signatories on implementing it,” EU Commission spokesman Guillaume Mercier told The National . “We are ready to invest in concrete projects that can already start making these connections happen.” In a February speech in New Delhi, Ms von der Leyen hailed IMEC as a “modern golden road” and “much more than 'just' a railway or a cable”. “It is a green and digital bridge across continents and civilisations. And it can help bring us closer together and boost trade on everything from batteries to clean hydrogen and digital services.” The corridor was also high on the agenda during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi' s February visit to France, where he and Mr Macron spent a half-day at Marseille port with French shipping company CMA CGM. It later told The National that it will play a “central role in the efficiency of this corridor”, with its port hubs in India, the UAE and the Mediterranean. Its weekly India Gulf Express services already links India's of Nhava Sheva and Mundra ports to Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi in the Gulf. Another French company poised to benefit is Capgemini, the IT consultancy with more than 150,000 employees in India. As noted by Mr Mestrallet, the firm's data centres will increasingly require green energy from Middle Eastern solar panel fields or UAE hydrogen. “These IT services experts work online for clients around the world, both American and European. This requires very high-speed data transmission via fibre optics. The development of artificial intelligence will greatly increase computing and data storage capabilities,” he said. Momentum is increasing across Europe. Until recently, Mr Mestrallet was the only special IMEC envoy, but Italy appointed former diplomatic adviser to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni , Francesco Maria Talo, on April 2. Both Italy and Greece are pushing their ports – Trieste and Piraeus – as potential rivals to Marseille. “There is a major opportunity for transport, energy and construction firms to expand their markets,” said Alberto Rizzi, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank. At its heart, IMEC is an Indian initiative – a strategic push to diversify partnerships and lessen reliance on China. “For India, it's an important policy point to talk about international connectivity projects. It [IMEC] would help India increase both its regional and global footprint,” said Garima Mohan, a Brussels-based senior fellow in the German Marshall Fund's Indo-Pacific programme. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of a G20 summit in New Delhi by leaders from India, the US, the UAE, France, Italy and Germany. Backed strongly by then-US president Joe Biden as a counterweight to China's Belt and Road Initiative, IMEC remains in Washington's sights and was mentioned in an India-US joint statement in February during a visit by Mr Modi to Washington. The new Trump administration has so far not showed “negative signals” towards IMEC, Mr Mestrallet said. Major powers increasingly view trade routes as diplomatic tools. “Countries want to attract high-value activities on their soil and to be on these global trade routes without watching them pass by into neighbouring countries,” said Laurent Livolsi, a logistics expert and management professor at Aix-Marseille University. As it moves forward with IMEC, India has found a strong partner in the UAE. Their 2022 free trade deal – the first India had signed in over a decade – laid groundwork for deeper economic ties . In September, they launched a “virtual trade corridor” that aims to cut red tape. The corridor is a model that France is watching closely to see if it can be replicated by Gulf countries in the railway segment of IMEC that crosses the Arabian Peninsula. Its efficiency in simplifying administrative and financial management and customs clearance should be expanded to all of IMEC, according to Mr Mestrallet. Since February 2023, France, the UAE and India have been holding a trilateral strategic dialogue, where IMEC has been added to the agenda alongside military co-operation and climate change. “Trade between India and the Emirates did not wait for IMEC to flourish,” Mr Mestrallet said. “What is certain is that this trade will continue to increase. IMEC will provide an additional incentive for its growth and will therefore make it even more necessary to adapt these infrastructures.” Still, continuing conflicts in the Middle East remain the project's biggest obstacle. “Everyone is waiting to see what comes from Gaza in terms of policy,” said Jean-Loup Semaan, senior research fellow at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore. Mr Mestrallet acknowledged the impact of regional instability but also pointed at renewed interest in rail lines as Red Sea shipping lanes face mounting threats, such as Houthi attacks. While rail cannot match maritime trade in volume, it offers speed and security for high-value goods. “To gain time, the train line will have to be fast – at least 80 to 90kph,” Mr Mestrallet said. Other options than Haifa port as an entry way into the Mediterranean may also have to be considered, he added. “It may be wise to think of alternatives such as Alexandria in Egypt. That was discussed between President [Abdel Fattah] Ei Sisi and Mr Macron,” he said, referring to the French President's recent visit to Egypt. Mr Macron has been pushing for the inclusion of Egypt into IMEC, which, despite not posing a serious threat to the Suez Canal's importance for world trade, has reportedly been viewed as competition by Cairo. “Egypt wants to integrate IMEC,” Mr Mestrallet said. “It would be only natural. Egypt has a unique history of connecting East and West. This was true before the Suez Canal. It is certainly true after the Suez Canal.” IMEC's final shape is not decided. Ultimately, it will include a mixture of existing infrastructure with new development. In a policy brief published last year, Mr Rizzi suggested using projects such as the Euro-Asia interconnector – an electricity cable under construction since 2022 linking the grids of Greece, Cyprus and Israel. “The biggest strength of IMEC is that while it offers a new trade route between Europe and India from the Gulf, it's not built on a void. It actually builds on projects that those countries are planning to do anyway,” Mr Rizzi told The National . Questions remain, particularly regarding IMEC's $500 billion estimated cost and governance needs. So far Saudi Arabia is the only country to have made a public pledge of $20 billion. Private financing must also play a role, according to Mr Mestrallet, who cited the development of private maritime ports in India. “For now, it's just a concept. We need to turn it into a real project,” Mr Mestrallet said. “We need to identify the infrastructure and its existing capabilities, see what the internal needs will be, and conduct studies to determine whether there is a demand.” There are hopes that IMEC's governance will become more structured this year, so that in-depth studies can be conducted with participants sharing their costs. “We'll need a collective structure, a steering committee, a permanent secretariat, and work that would be done among Sherpa members,” Mr Mestrallet said. Some analysts say Europe's growing enthusiasm for IMEC signals a cultural shift. “Europe has structured itself with inter-European networks but hasn't reproduced that vision internationally,” Mr Livolsi said. “But this is the dominant vision internationally.” IMEC remains largely confined to European diplomatic circles, but Mr Mestrallet said interest from French businesses is rising. They are keen, he said, in “building lasting relationships on solid foundations and infrastructure with friendly countries”. “If there can be stability and continuity in economic relations, trade relations, diplomatic relations, and beyond that geostrategic relations between the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India and Europe, I think that this is extremely positive for the security of the world,” he said.

French envoy eager for Europe to strengthen trade with UAE and India

As the EU and the UAE kick off talks for a free trade agreement, The National speaks to France's representative for the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor