4 Foreign Ministers Attend The I2U2 Nations Group In New York

I2U2 Group Expresses Commitment To Deepening The Economic Partnership

In conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly, the Sherpas of the I2U2 (Israel, India, United Arab Emirates, and USA) nations gathered in New York. In the meeting, the four-nation group expressed their commitment to deepening the economic partnership among them and took stock of current projects in agriculture and clean energy, and reviewed potential projects to help the group's objectives identified under I2U2. The team is eager to build on the success of the July Leaders' Summit.

Summit Conference of I2U2

The inaugural summit conference of the new "mini-lateral" grouping known as "I2U2" was held on July 14, 2022, and was attended by the leaders of India, Israel, the US, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This was a continuation of the process that was begun in October 2021 during the visit to Israel of External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, when the foreign ministers of the four nations met in a quadrilateral setting. The decision was made to establish a new quadrilateral forum for "expanding economic and political cooperation in the Middle East and Asia, including through trade, combating climate change, energy cooperation, and increasing maritime security," Jaishankar and Yair Lapid, the Israeli foreign minister at the time, were in attendance. Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed of the UAE and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken participated electronically. The India-US 2+2 meeting in Washington in April 2022, which "welcomed the opportunity to enhance engagement" among the four countries "on shared priorities such as another debate of the new quadrilateral forum covered topics like infrastructure development, waste management, sustainable energy, and food security.

What Is I2U2?

The Middle East and South Asia are included in the geopolitical idea of West Asia, which is where I2U2 was first conceptualised. In particular, the I2U2 format seeks to create a power balance with regard to the burgeoning Eurasian nations in this area, such Iran and Turkey. By gradually growing to include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab Gulf states in the medium term, as well as possibly France, Greece, and Italy in the long term, the I2U2 could grow to become the I2U2+. The Indo-Abrahamic framework and the I2U2+ format would, according to Washington, transform the United States' role in West Asia from a security guarantee to an offshore balancer. The I2U2+ would make New Delhi Washington's primary strategic ally among the littoral states of Eurasia, a geostrategic region of the world that Yale University international relations scholar Nicholas John Spykman famously referred to as "the Rimland." This would allow the United States to meet its long-term strategic needs in the Indo-Pacific without leaving a void in West Asia for Beijing and Moscow to fill.

India’s Approach Towards Minilateral Organisation

In order to stretch out and broaden its alternatives in a system that is showing more and more signs of transitional flexibility, India has formed minilateral organisations. It has continued to have tight bilateral ties with the United States and to be a part of the counter-China Quad alliance. It also takes part in the BRICS and SCO platforms that are led by China and Russia. It belongs to the India-Russia-China triad as well. In order to safeguard M-E ties and hydrocarbon supply, it has since joined other Abraham Accord signatories. It also wants to have tight connections with ASEAN. In short, India is pursuing its own interests by leveraging connections to other major and secondary players as it swiftly climbs through the global economic rankings to become the third great power in the new world order, an extremely pragmatic and self-centered approach to the fluidity of systemic shift.

The Outcome of I2U2 

Even if only for the sake of founding this organisation, the I2U2 inaugural summit was a success. To avoid upsetting other regional and major powers, especially Turkey, Iran, Russia, and China, who are still attempting to understand the new organisation and its geopolitical direction, it will need to develop an ambitious, multifaceted agenda moving ahead. One area where the I2U2 member states could collaborate, broaden their format to include more nations, produce meaningful benefits, and avoid upsetting some global and regional powers is technology. Its formulation in a manner that is not hostile to other states is essential at this point. The I2U2 could be a key element in the region of the new global order as long as it maintains a strong tech agenda as the principal vehicle for geostrategic integration in West Asia.

The Way Forward for I2U2

The I2U2 highlights a confluence of interests among India, Israel, the US, and the UAE, integrating their main competencies to produce novel and distinctive solutions to economic and developmental problems. The goal is to address issues of water, food, and health security as well as weak connectivity and the demand for clean energy by combining US leadership, Israeli innovation, UAE's financial weight, the Indian market, and their collective entrepreneurial spirit. However, there are geopolitical issues that the partner nations would need to handle skillfully. Despite the difficulties, the I2U2 is a promising project with great potential for interregional collaboration and, if it is successful, might serve as a model for future cooperation.