In a first, leaders of India, Israel, US, and the UAE will hold a virtual dialogue next month around US President Joe Biden’s Middle East tour.
The first virtual meeting of Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and President Mohammed bin Zayed of the UAE will be during Biden’s travel to this region from July 13-16, with stopovers in Israel, the West Bank, and Saudi Arabia.
Sharing details of the visit, a senior US administration official said: “The summit called I2U2 will discuss the food security crisis and other areas of cooperation across hemispheres where the UAE and Israel serve as important innovation hubs.”
The meeting holds significance in the wake of the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has also disturbed the global food supply chain, causing alarm across the world. The conflict has also contributed to a significant rise in prices of global crude, accelerating inflationary pressure across economies around the world.
The US official said that US President’s visit will focus on “Israel’s increasing integration into the region, both through the Abraham Accords with UAE, Morocco, and Bahrain; through deepening ties between Israel, Jordan and Egypt; and also an entirely new grouping of partners, including Israel, India, UAE, and the United States — what we call I2U2.”
Though this will be the first summit-level meeting of I2U2, the group has met at the level of foreign ministers earlier in October 2021. The meeting took place during External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Israel last year. Jaishankar was joined by the Foreign Minister of UAE, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken virtually, while Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid was present in person during the meeting. The ministers had discussed issues around trade, climate, and maritime security.
As India becomes part of yet another grouping of nations with aligned interests, the summit will also underline the country’s growing influence in the West Asia region.
PM Modi has succeeded in making a deep strategic alliance among the Gulf Nations over the last few years. India has considerable trade with GCC countries and is the receiver of one of the highest remittances from this region alone. Moreover, the growing economy and changing geopolitical order have pushed India towards making deeper alliances in the Gulf to secure its long-term energy interests.
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