Welcoming the New Delhi Declaration of G20 as pathbreaking during the Indian Presidency of the group under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sandeep Narula, Chairman, Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) said “the trade corridors announced on the sidelines of the summit will script a trailblazing new chapter in the global trade and movement of goods and services.”
The India -Middle East -Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), the mega infrastructure project is expected to stimulate enhanced connectivity and economic integration between -Asia, the Arabian Gulf, and Europe, driving sustainable development to the countries in the region and beyond. The East and West Corridors envisaged are entwined and support and complement each other. The cost-effective two projects to be undertaken which will have rail-to-ship linkages between the countries in various continents will be environment friendly, faster, and cheaper dotted with convenient transit points, and at the same time focus on financial viability to complete the projects in the stipulated time. “The commitment of US President Biden to invest in ships and rail that are needed to connect India to Europe is indicative of a new economic order that is emerging, where India can be a major player and a beneficiary,” the ESC Chairman said.
The ESC Chairman added that the announcement of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi as the chair of the G20 launch of the Biofuel Alliance with the US and Brazil as the other founding members would boost the use of clean energy for addressing climate change. This move will complement the Solar Alliance launched by New Delhi in 2015, which has received encouraging responses from various countries. “This initiative is more relevant to India, which imports 87% of its fossil fuel requirements, entailing a huge outflow of precious foreign exchange,” pointed out Narula.
He also welcomed the induction of the African Union as the 21st member of the group, since it would boost and ingrain the Global South context in the global trade and investment negotiations and consultations. ICT is one of the identified areas that ESC is focussing on penetrating into the huge African market for both software and electronics hardware.
Importantly, Chairman Narula revealed that ESC is taking a delegation of ICT entrepreneurs to Kenya and Tanzania shortly to hold consultations with the ICT businesses there. The visits to these countries with a heavy agenda and strong delegation, coming immediately after the induction of the African Union into the G20 at the instance of India would give a further fillip to ESC’s active scout for finding new, sustainable, and diversified markets in the region.